_The dog fiend, or Snarleyyow_ is the earliest of the three novels, _ThePhantom Ship_ and _The Privateersman_ being the other two, in whichMarryat made use of historical events and attempted to project hischaracters into the past. The research involved is not profound, but themachinations of Jacobite conspirators provide appropriate material forthe construction of an adventure plot and for the exhibition of asingularly despicable villain. Mr Vanslyperken and his acquaintances,male and female, at home and abroad, are all--except perhaps hiswitch-like mother--thoroughly life-like and convincing: their conduct issufficiently probable to retain the reader's attention for a rapid andexciting narrative.
The numerous escapes of the vile cur, after whom the novel ischristened, and of his natural enemy Peter Smallbones are not allequally well contrived, and they become a little wearisome byrepetition; but a general atmosphere of _diablerie_ is very effectivelyproduced by their means. Some such element of unreality is absolutelydemanded to relieve the sordid and brutal details by which the main plotis worked out; and it must be admitted that in certain passages--thedeath-struggle between Smallbones and the lieutenant's mother, thediscovery of the woman's body, and the descriptions of kisses betweenCorporal Van Spitter and the Frau Vandersloosh--Marryat's habitualliteralness becomes unpleasantly coarse. The offensive touches, however,are incidental, and the execution of the two villains, Vanslyperken andSnarleyyow, with its dash of genuine pathos, is dramatic andimpressive:--"They were damnable in their lives, and in their deathsthey were not divided."
As usual the interest of the novel depends almost entirely upon men, buton the character of Mrs Corbett, _nee_ Nancy Dawson, Marryat hasexpended considerable care with satisfactory results. Barring theindecorous habit of regretting her past in public, which is not perhapsuntrue to nature, she is made attractive by her wit and sincererepentance, without becoming unnaturally refined. The song in her honourreferred to on p. 107 is not suitable for reproduction in this place.She was an historic character in the reign of William III., but must notbe confounded with her more celebrated namesake (1730-1767) of Sadler'sWells, Covent Garden, and Drury Lane, who danced a horn-pipe in _TheBeggar's Opera_ to the air of "Nancy Dawson," which is mentioned in theepilogue of _She Stoops to Conquer_, and survives in our nurseries as"Here we go round the Mulberry Bush."
The greater part of _Snarleyyow_ was first printed in _The MetropolitanMagazine_, 1836 and 1837; but on reaching Chapter xl., just as the novelhad appeared in book form, the editor--not then Marryat himself--toldhis readers that it was not his intention to give an extended review ofthis work, as they had already "ample means of forming their own opinionof its varied merits:"--"We shall therefore content ourselves with a fewremarks, in announcing its publication and giving a brief outline of thetermination of the story from our last number." At the close of the saidextracts he writes:--
"And so ends Snarleyyow, with as much quaintness, spirit, and characteras it commenced."
The book was evidently written in haste, and few of the minor charactersretained one Christian name throughout its pages. It is here reprinted,with the corrections of such slips as those just mentioned, from thefirst edition in three volumes. Henry Colburn, 1837.