Matthew Gregory Lewis (9 July 1775 – 14 May 1818) was an English novelist and dramatist, often referred to as "Monk" Lewis, because of the success of his 1796 Gothic novel, The Monk. Lewis was born in London, the son of Matthew Lewis, a West Indian planter, and his wife Frances Maria Sewell. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was a precocious writer, and at the age of sixteen he wrote his first novel, The Monk, which was published in 1796. It was an immediate success and established his reputation as a writer of Gothic fiction. Lewis followed up this success with a number of other Gothic novels, including Ambrosio, or The Monk (1797), The Castle Spectre (1798), and The Bravo of Venice (1802). He also wrote several plays, including The Castle of Andalusia (1798) and The Bravo of Venice (1802). Lewis was a friend of the poet Lord Byron, and the two men collaborated on a number of works, including the play The Vampyre (1819). Lewis also wrote a number of non-fiction works, including a biography of the poet Thomas Chatterton (1803). Lewis died in 1818, at the age of 42. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's Church in Islington, London.
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