On August 10, 1845, Marryat wrote to Mrs S., a lady for whom, to the
time of his death, he retained the highest sentiments of friendship and
esteem:--
"I really wish you would write your confessions, I will publish them. I
have a beautiful opening in some memoranda I have made of the early life
of a Frenchwoman, that is, up to the age of seventeen, when she is cast
adrift upon the world, and I would work it all up together. Let us
commence, and divide the tin; it is better than doing nothing. I have
been helping Ainsworth in the _New Monthly_, and I told him that I had
commenced a work called _Mademoiselle Virginie_, which he might perhaps
have. Without my knowing it, he has announced its coming forth; but it
does not follow that he is to have it, nevertheless, and indeed he now
wishes me to continue one" (_The Privateersman_) "that I have already
begun in the magazine."
However, Mrs S., with whom at one time Washington Irving also wished to
collaborate, declined the offer; and _Mademoiselle Virginie_ was
ultimately published in the _New Monthly_ under the title of _Valerie_.
The first eleven chapters appeared in the magazine 1846, 1847, and the
remaining pages were added--according to _The Life and Letters of
Captain Marryat_--by another hand, when it came out in book form.
There are two special features in _Valerie_, beyond its actual merits,
that inevitably excite our attention. It is Marryat's last work, and
the only one in which the interest centres entirely on women. For this
reason, and from the eighteenth century flavour in some of its
characters, the book inevitably recalls Miss Burney and her little-read
_The Wanderer_, in which, as in _Valerie_, a proud and sensitive girl is
thrown on the world, and discovers--by bitter experience as governess,
companion, and music mistress--the sneer that lurks beneath the smile of
fashion and prosperity.
The subject is well handled, on the old familiar lines, and supplies the
groundwork of an eminently readable story, peopled by many life-like
"humours" and an attractive, spirited heroine. The adventures of
_Valerie_ are various and well-sustained; her bearing throughout secures
the reader's sympathy, and he is conscious of a genuine pleasure in her
ultimate prosperity and happiness.
_Valerie, an autobiography_, is here reprinted from the first edition in
two volumes. Henry Colburn, 1849.