Matthew Lewis (writer)

“Matthew Lewis [was] the genre's first punk, the Johnny Rotten of the Gothic novel.”

“He was a child, and a spoiled child, but a child of high imagination; and so he wasted himself on ghost-stories and German romances.”

“All hail, M. P.! from whose infernal brainThin-sheeted phantoms glide, a grisly train;At whose command "grim women" throng in crowds,And kings of fire, of water, and of clouds,With "small gray men," "wild yagers," and what not,To crown with honour thee and Walter Scott;Again all hail! if tales like thine may please,St. Luke alone can vanquish the disease;Even Satan's self with thee might dread to dwell,And in thy skull discern a deeper hell.”

“Another Cleland see in Lewis rise.Why sleep the ministers of truth and law?Has the state no controul, no decent awe,While each with each in madd'ning orgies viePandars to lust and licens'd blasphemy?Can senates hear without a kindred rage?Oh may a poet's lightning blast the page,Nor with the bolt of Nemesis in vainSupply the laws, that wake not to restrain!”

“The worms, They crept in, and the worms, They crept out,And sported his eyes and his temples about,While the Spectre addressed Imogine.”

“"Oh! hush these suspicions," Fair Imogine said,"Offensive to Love and to me!For if ye be living, or if ye be dead,I swear by the Virgin, that none in your steadShall Husband of Imogine be."”

“A Warrior so bold, and a Virgin so brightConversed, as They sat on the green:They gazed on each other with tender delight;Alonzo the Brave was the name of the Knight,The Maid's was the Fair Imogine.”

“Many of the narratives can only tend to excite ideas the worst calculated for a female breast: Every thing is called plainly and roundly by its name; and the annals of a Brothel would scarcely furnish a greater choice of indecent expressions. Yet this is the Book, which young Women are recommended to study.”

“An Author, whether good or bad, or between both, is an Animal whom every body is privileged to attack; For though All are not able to write Books, all conceive themselves able to judge them.”

“Farewel, thou cruel world! – to morrowNo more thy scorn my heart shall tear: –The grave will shield the child of sorrow,And heaven will hear the orphan's prayer.”

“Hark! hark! – What mean those yells – those cries?His chain some furious madman breaks!He comes! I see his glaring eyes!Now! now! my dungeon bars he shakes.Help! Help! He's gone! Oh! fearful woe,Such screams to hear – such sights to see!My brain! my brain! – I know, I knowI am not mad, but soon shall be.”