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MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS (ESSAY DATE 1798)

SOURCE: Lewis, Matthew Gregory. "To the Reader." In The Castle Spectre: A Drama. In Five Acts, pp. 100-03. London: J. Bell, 1798.

In the following essay, Lewis addresses readers of The Castle Spectre, informing them of the inspirations for his narrative and characters, and defending his work against negative criticism.

Many erroneous assertions have been made respecting this Drama; some, that the language was originally extremely licentious; others, that the sentiments were violently democratic; and others again, that if Mr. Sheridan had not advised me to content myself with a single Spectre, I meant to have exhibited a whole regiment of Ghosts. To disprove these reports I have deviated from the usual mode of publishing Plays, as performed, and have printed mine almost verbatim, as originally written. Whether it merited the above accusations, the reader has...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Matthew Gregory Lewis (Poem Date 1796)
   2. Matthew Gregory Lewis (Essay Date 1798)
4. General Commentary
   1. Montague Summers (Essay Date 1938)
5. Title Commentary
   1. The Monk
6. Further Reading