"The confounded licking we received for our first attempts in the critical notices is probably well known to the reader--at all events we have not forgotten it. Now, with some, this severe castigation of their first offence would have had the effect of their never offending again; but we felt that our punishment was rather too severe; it produced indignation instead of contrition, and we determined to write again in spite of all the critics in the universe; and in the due course of nine months we produced _The King's Own_. In _The Naval Officer_ we had sowed all our wild oats; we had _paid off_ those who had ill-treated us, and we had no further personality to indulge in. _The King's Own_, therefore, was wholly fictitious in characters, in plot, and in events, as have been its successors. _The King's Own_ was followed by _Newton Forster, Newton Forster_ by _Peter Simple_. These are _all_ our productions. Reader, we have told our tale." This significant document was published by Captain Marryat in the _Metropolitan Magazine_ 1833, of which he was at that time the editor, on the first appearance of _Peter Simple_, in order, among other things, to disclaim the authorship of a work entitled the _Port Admiral_, which contained "an infamous libel upon one of our most distinguished officers deceased, and upon the service in general." It repudiates, without explaining away, certain unpleasant impressions that even the careful reader of to-day cannot entirely avoid. Marryat made Frank Mildmay a scamp, I am afraid, in order to prove that he himself had not stood for the portrait; but he clearly did not recognise the full enormities of his hero, to which he was partially blinded by a certain share thereof. The adventures were admittedly his own, they were easily recognised, and he had no right to complain of being confounded with the insolent young devil to whom they were attributed. It would, however, be at once ungracious and unprofitable to attempt any analysis of the points of difference and resemblance; any reader will detect the author's failings by his work; other coincidences may be noticed here. It has been said, in the general introduction, that Marryat's cruises in the _Imperieuse_ are almost literally described in _Frank Mildmay_. We have also independent accounts of certain personal adventures there related.