Ambrosio’s fall from proud and successful churchman, loved and praised for his sermons, is brilliantly conveyed. The characters of the women, Antonia and Agnes as well as Margarita, ring true too. The heroes, Lorenzo and Raymond, also live in these pages, whatever curious things their author makes them do.

Several of the scenes remain in the mind very vividly: the seduction or, rather, the surrender of Matilda/Rosario, as well as the rape of the charming Antonia. The scenes in the sinister cottage near Strasburg are compelling, as are all the horrible occurrences underground in the Carmelite cemetery. The angry mob of ordinary people at the end of the book constitutes an alarming foretaste of what the nineteenth century would bring to established institutions such as convents and monasteries.

The plot and subplot nearly become detached from each other, but in the end they do not. The only complaint that I would make is that Lewis’s picture of Madrid is as eccentric as his rendering of Spanish names. But, of course, Madrid in The Monk is not intended to bear any real resemblance to the Spanish capital: It is an imaginary city of fantasy, just as his Duke of Medinaceli has nothing to do with the nobleman who rejoiced in that great name at the time. I am sure that the novel will continue to have a long life among discerning readers of novels, and not just students of literature.

—

HUGH THOMAS (Lord Thomas of Swynnerton) is widely known for his work on the history of Spain, including his epic masterpiece The Spanish Civil War, available as a Modern Library Paperback. He is currently working on a book on the history of the Spanish Empire, to be published by Random House.

 

 

Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentaque.
HORAT.
Dreams, magic terrors, spells of mighty power,
Witches, and ghosts who rove at midnight hour.

PREFACE
Imitation of Horace,
Ep. 20.—B. 1.

Methinks, Oh! vain ill-judging book,
I see thee cast a wishful look,
Where reputations won and lost are
In famous row called Paternoster.
Incensed to find your precious olio
Buried in unexplored port-folio,
You scorn the prudent lock and key,
And pant well bound and gilt to see
Your volume in the window set
Of Stockdale, Hookham, or Debrett;

Go then, and pass that dangerous bourn
Whence never book can back return:
And when you find, condemned, despised,
Neglected, blamed, and criticised,
Abuse from all who read you fall,
(If haply you be read at all)
Sorely will you your folly sigh at,
And wish for me, and home, and quiet.

Assuming now a conjuror’s office, I
Thus on your future fortune prophesy:—
Soon as your novelty is o’er,
And you are young and new no more,
In some dark dirty corner thrown,
Mouldy with damps, with cobwebs strown,
Your leaves shall be the book-worm’s prey;
Or sent to chandler-shop away,
And doomed to suffer public scandal,
Shall line the trunk, or wrap the candle!

    But should you meet with approbation,
And some one find an inclination
To ask, by natural transition,
Respecting me and my condition;
That I am one, the enquirer teach,
Nor very poor, nor very rich;
Of passions strong, of hasty nature,
Of graceless form and dwarfish stature;
By few approved, and few approving;
Extreme in hating and in loving;

Abhorring all whom I dislike,
Adoring who my fancy strike;
In forming judgements never long,
And for the most part judging wrong;
In friendship firm, but still believing
Others are treacherous and deceiving,
And thinking in the present æra
That friendship is a pure chimæra:
More passionate no creature living,
Proud, obstinate, and unforgiving,
But yet for those who kindness show,
Ready through fire and smoke to go.

    Again, should it be asked your page,
“Pray, what may be the author’s age?”
Your faults, no doubt, will make it clear,
I scarce have seen my twentieth year,
Which passed, kind Reader, on my word,
While England’s throne held George the Third.

    Now then your venturous course pursue:
Go, my delight! Dear book, adieu!

HAGUE,
Oct. 28, 1794.

M. G. L.

TABLE OF THE POETRY

PREFACE—Imitation of Horace

The Gipsy’s Song VOL. I

Inscription in an Hermitage

Durandarte and Belerma

Love and Age VOL. II

The Exile

Midnight Hymn

The Water-King VOL. III

Serenade

Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogine

ADVERTISEMENT

The first idea of this Romance was suggested by the story of the Santon Barsisa, related in The Guardian.—The Bleeding Nun is a tradition still credited in many parts of Germany; and I have been told, that the ruins of the castle of Lauenstein, which she is supposed to haunt, may yet be seen upon the borders of Thuringia.—The Water-King, from the third to the twelfth stanza, is the fragment of an original Danish ballad—And Belerma and Durandarte is translated from some stanzas to be found in a collection of old Spanish poetry, which contains also the popular song of Gayferos and Melesindra, mentioned in Don Quixote.——I have now made a full avowal of all the plagiarisms of which I am aware myself; but I doubt not, many more may be found, of which I am at present totally unconscious.

VOLUME I

CHAP. I.

—Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

Scarcely had the abbey-bell tolled for five minutes, and already was the church of the Capuchins thronged with auditors. Do not encourage the idea, that the crowd was assembled either from motives of piety or thirst of information. But very few were influenced by those reasons; and in a city where superstition reigns with such despotic sway as in Madrid, to seek for true devotion would be a fruitless attempt. The audience now assembled in the Capuchin church was collected by various causes, but all of them were foreign to the ostensible motive. The women came to show themselves, the men to see the women: some were attracted by curiosity to hear an orator so celebrated; some came, because they had no better means of employing their time till the play began; some, from being assured that it would be impossible to find places in the church; and one half of Madrid was brought thither by expecting to meet the other half. The only persons truly anxious to hear the preacher, were a few antiquated devotees, and half a dozen rival orators, determined to find fault with and ridicule the discourse. As to the remainder of the audience, the sermon might have been omitted altogether, certainly without their being disappointed, and very probably without their perceiving the omission.

Whatever was the occasion, it is at least certain, that the Capuchin church had never witnessed a more numerous assembly. Every corner was filled, every seat was occupied. The very statues which ornamented the long aisles were pressed into the service. Boys suspended themselves upon the wings of cherubims; St. Francis and St. Mark bore each a spectator on his shoulders; and St. Agatha found herself under the necessity of carrying double.