LEWIS, LEOPOLD DAVIS:

By: Joseph Jacobs, Edgar Mels

English dramatist; born in London 1828; died there Feb. 23, 1890. Lewis was educated at the King's Collegiate School, London, and upon graduation became a solicitor, practising as such from 1850 to 1875. In 1871 he translated Erckmann-Chatrian's "Le Juif Polonais," giving it the name "The Bells," under which name it was produced by Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre, London, Nov. 25, 1871. Original plays from the pen of Lewis are: "The Wandering Jew" (Adelphi Theatre, April 14, 1873); "Give a Dog a Bad Name" (ib. Nov. 18, 1873); and "The Foundlings" (Sadler's Wells Theatre, Oct. 8, 1881). From February to December of 1868 he and Alfred Thompson conducted a monthly, "The Mask," which failed. In addition to the plays mentioned Lewis wrote a number of tales under the title "A Peal of Merry Bells" (1880).

J. E. Ms.