Fallen fanes and shabby abbeys
Sir: Barry Humphries's article on the Horrid Novels (19 April) was distinguished for its nostalgic charm, rather than its accuracy. Nobody expects Mr Humphries's memories of his visits to the second-band bookshop in Mel- bourne to be strictly accurate, but I suspect that his memory plays him false in attributing The One-handed Monk to Thomas Preskett Prest, author of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The One-handed Monk was writ- ten by Mrs Mary Anne Radcliffe. As Mr Humphries suggests, it is an extraordinary com- pilation of Gothic horror and unhealthy eroticism. It was, in fact, reprinted in 1878, and attributed (wrongly) to Mrs Ann Rad- cliffe, whom Scott, Byron, Shelley and Keats admired as the writer of The Mysteries of Udolpho.
It may sound carping to mention also that Michael Sadleir was never knighted, despite his .contribution to Gothic scholarship, and that much as Montague Summers would have re- velled in the title of `Monsignor,' he never dared claim for himself any other appellation than Rev Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers. (Reverend in what Church? RC or Anglican? Nobody knows for certain.) The other point I would make is that Mr Humphries mentions a book called Tales of Terror and Wonder, which he attributes to `Monk' Lewis. There are, in fact, two books, Tales of Terror (1799) and Tales of Wonder (1801). Tales of Wonder was written by Lewis, but his authorship of Tales of Terror is a biblio- graphical myth, exploded in 1922. It was printed at Scott's request, and contained poems by him, Lewis, and Southey.
These inaccuracies do not mar the pleasure of reading Mr Humphries's article, but they rob it of a certain authoritative tone.
Coral Ann Howells 30 Bramshill Gardens, London NW5
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