Page:Reminisences of Captain Gronow.djvu/220

198 —One of the most agreeable men of the day was "Monk" Lewis. As the author of The Monk and Tales of Wonder, he not only found his way into the best circles, but gained a high reputation in the literary world. His poetic talent was undoubted, and he was intimately connected with Walter Scott in his ballad researches: his Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogene was recited at the theatres. Wherever he went he found a welcome reception; his West Indian fortune and connections, and his seat in Parliament, giving him access to all the aristocratic circles. From these, however, he was banished upon the appearance of the fourth and last dialogue of the Pursuits of Literature. Had a thunderbolt fallen upon him, he could not have been more astonished than he was by the onslaught of Mr. Matthias, which led to his ostracism from fashionable society.

It is not for me to appreciate the value of this satirical poem, which created such an extraordinary sensation, not only in the fashionable, but in the political world; I, however, remember that whilst at Canning's, at the Bishop of London's, and at Gifford's, it was pronounced the most classical and spirited production that had