Like Mary Shelley, Lewis made a huge impact with his teenage (and only) novel The Monk, which more or less defined the far edge of sensational Gothicism when it was published in 1796. Indeed, the notoriety of the novel was such that Lewis was forever after known as "Monk" Lewis, and the fact he served as a Member of Parliament only heightened the shock value. Lewis went on to write a number of plays, poems, and translations, many of which featured Gothic themes and motifs. As a playwright Lewis was rather successful, his melodramatic flair finding an appreciate audience in the days of Romantic drama, although Lewis abandoned the theater when he inherited his family's West Indian sugar plantations.
This unattributed etching of Lewis (you can see what may well be the source by clicking on the "Portraits" link at left) served as the frontispiece to The Life and Correspondence of M. G. Lewis, London: Henry Colburn, 1839.
