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Monk Lewis

(1775-1818), Writer

Matthew Gregory ('Monk') Lewis

Sitter in 3 portraits
Matthew Gregory Lewis was popularly nicknamed 'Monk Lewis' after his work, The Monk (1796), one of the most celebrated British gothic novels. Denounced as blasphemous pornography, it was an immediate bestseller. Capitalising on his success and notoriety, he wrote popular gothic melodramas such as Castle Spectre (1797) and Timour the Tartar (1811), which greatly influenced Sir Walter Scott. In 1812, Lewis inherited a Jamaican sugar plantation. His posthumously published Journal of a West India Proprietor (1834), recounted his attempts to improve the working and living conditions of his slaves. Lewis died of fever on the return voyage from Jamaica.

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Monk Lewis
by George Lethbridge Saunders, after Unknown artist
NPG 2171

Monk Lewis
by Henry William Pickersgill
NPG 421

Monk Lewis
by J. Hollis, published by John Samuel Murray, sold by Charles Tilt, after George Henry Harlow
NPG D8350

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Place

Jamaica

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Monk Lewis

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