Matthew Gregory Lewis began writing in an effort to earn money for his mother and stopped his literary efforts because of the burden of managing the wealth inherited from his father. While just nineteen he wrote The Monk (1796), his first publication and the book with which he would be forever identified, both morally and creatively. As a result of the immense fame, or notoriety, that he received from The Monk he was able to pursue an extremely successful career as a dramatist, although his periodic attempts to escape the Gothic mode resulted in failure. Public taste demanded his outrageous and melodramatic formulas, while critical opinions continually examined his plays for their moral iniquities. Perhaps because he attempted to satisfy both these popular and critical demands, Lewis's plays suffer from a decline in originality, and during the remainder of his life his best work can be found in his...