#captain marryat as a parent

He never permitted anything to be locked or hidden away from his children, who were allowed to indulge their appetites at their own discretion; nor were they ever banished from the apartments which he occupied. Even whilst he was writing, they would pass freely in and out of the room, putting any questions to him that occurred to them, and the worst rebuke they ever encountered was the short, determined order, “Cease your prattle, my child, and leave the room,” an order that was immediately obeyed.

— Florence Marryat on her father Frederick Marryat, in The Life and Letters of Captain Frederick Marryat(1872)