In the late eighteenth century, Matthew Gregory “Monk” Lewis, a notorious author of lurid Gothic novels and plays, began to gather this collection of horror ballads. Including original and traditional works, translations and adaptations, and even burlesques of the Gothic, this “hobgoblin repast,” as Lewis called it, brings together a fascinating assortment of works. Contributors include Lewis, the young Walter Scott, William Taylor of Norwich, John Leyden, and Robert Southey.
Appendices contain selections from Tales of Terror (1801), a text long intertwined with Lewis’s collection; information on Scott’s An Apology for Tales of Terror (1799); and parodies and reviews of Lewis’s particular brand of Gothic poetry.
Comments
“Douglass H. Thomson’s excellent new edition makes Matthew Gregory Lewis’s long out-of-print Tales of Wonder (1801) available to scholars and students of Romanticism. The text is based on the first edition of the first volume of this important—and controversial—collection, and includes ballads by ‘Monk’ Lewis himself, as well as by Walter Scott and Robert Southey. It is accompanied by a detailed critical introduction and helpful notes. The generous appendices contain crucial contextual materials, including a Lewis chronology, extracts from the second volume of Tales of Wonder (nicknamed ‘Tales of Plunder’ by contemporaries) and a much misunderstood follow-up, Tales of Terror, plus a selection of contemporary reviews. This is an indispensable edition for anyone interested in the Gothic, generic complexity, seriousness and parody, nationalism, canons and their discontents, and literary marketplaces in the Romantic period.” — Lynda Pratt, University of Nottingham
“The rediscovery of Gothic fiction has been at the neglect of Gothic poetry. This richly annotated edition of the most important, eclectic, and entertaining anthology of Gothic balladry will help redress the balance. Thomson’s wide-ranging critical introduction shows how Tales of Wonder constantly crosses literary and critical boundaries, playfully blurring distinctions between the serious and the burlesque. This is an invaluable publication, not only for Gothicists but for all interested in the Ballad Revival, Anglo-German literary connections, and Romanticism’s ambiguous relationship with the Gothic.” — Paul Barnaby, Edinburgh University Library
Acknowledgements
Introduction
M.G. Lewis and Tales of Wonder: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Tales of Wonder
- Bothwell’s Bonny Jane / M.G. Lewis
- Osric the Lion / M.G. Lewis
- Sir Hengist / M.G. Lewis
- Alonzo the Brave, and Fair Imogine / M.G. Lewis
- Giles Jollup the Grave, and Brown Sally Green / M.G. Lewis
- Elver’s Hoh / M.G. Lewis
- The Sword of Angantyr / M.G. Lewis
- King Hacho’s Death-Song / M.G. Lewis
- The Erl-King / M.G. Lewis
- The Erl-King’s Daughter / M.G. Lewis
- The Water-King / M.G. Lewis
- The Fire-King / Walter Scott
- The Cloud-King / M.G. Lewis
- The Fisherman / M.G. Lewis
- The Sailor’s Tale / M.G. Lewis
- The Princess and the Slave / M.G. Lewis
- The Gay Gold Ring / M.G. Lewis
- The Grim White Woman / M.G. Lewis
- The Little Grey Man / H. Bunbury
- Glenfinlas; or Lord Ronald’s Coronach / Walter
Scott
- The Eve of Saint John / Walter Scott
- Frederick and Alice / Walter Scott
- The Wild Huntsmen / Walter Scott
- The Old Woman of Berkeley / Robert Southey
- Bishop Bruno / Robert Southey
- Lord William / Robert Southey
- The Painter of Florence / Robert Southey
- Donica / Robert Southey
- Cornelius Agrippa’s Bloody Book / Robert
Southey
- Rudiger / Robert Southey
- The Elfin-King / John Leyden
- The Sorceress; or Wolfwold and Ulla / Mickle
Appendix A: A Selection of Poems from Volume II of Tales of Wonder
- LVI. Clerk Colvin
- LVII. Willy’s Lady
- LVIII. Courteous King Jamie
- LIX.Tam Lin
- LX. Lenora
Appendix B: Robert Southey and the Tales of Wonder
Appendix C: Selections from Tales of Terror (1801)
- I. Introductory Dialogue
- IV.The Wolf-King or Little Red-Riding-Hood. An Old Woman’s Tale
- X. The Grey Friar of Winton; or, the Death of King Rufus. An English Legend
- XI. Grim, King of Ghosts; or, the Dance of Death. A Church-Yard Tale
- XV. The Black Canon of Elmham; or, Saint Edmond’s Eve. An Old English Ballad
- XIX. The House upon the Heath. A Welsh Tale
- XX.The Mud-King; or, Smedley’s Ghost. A Tale of the Times
Appendix D: A Note on Scott’s Compilation An Apology for Tales of Terror (1799)
Appendix E: Critical Reception of Tales of Wonder and Tales of Terror
- British Critic (December 1801)
- Antijacobin Review (March 1801)
- Monthly Magazine (July 1801)
- Poetical Register (1801)
- Critical Review (January 1802)
- From George Gordon, Lord Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809)
Select Bibliography and Works Cited
Douglass H. Thomson is Professor of English at Georgia Southern University.
