Lewis spent four months in Jamaica, and so much of his time did he give to the amelioration of the condition of his slaves on his estate of Cornwall, within a few miles of Savanna-la-Mar, that he left the island without having visited Hordley, an estate in the Plantain Garden River division of St. Thomas-in-the-East, in which estate he had a share. On Cornwall there were 307 slaves and 287 head of stock, and on Hordley 283 slaves and 130 stock. His friend Lord Holland, it may be mentioned, then owned Friendship and Greenwich, neighbouring estates in Westmoreland. Lewis’s principal acts were the abolition of the lash, the acceptance of negro evidence at enquiries into offences, &c., and an endeavour to supplement manual labour by mechanical implements and improved stock. He built better hospitals for the sick, granted extra holidays to his negroes, and generally did his best to spoil them—not without success, for he writes: “The negroes certainly are perverse beings. They had been praying for a sight of their master year after year; they were in raptures at my arrival; I have suffered no one to be punished, and shown them every possible indulgence during my residence amongst them, and one and all they declare themselves perfectly happy and well treated. Yet previous to my arrival they made thirty-three hogsheads a week; in a fortnight after my landing their product dwindled to twenty-three; during this last week they have managed to make but thirteen.” It is curious to read of the author of “The Monk,” a little lion in London society, throwing himself heart and soul into the most minute questions of domestic economy and policy at Cornwall, and adjusting differences between Cubina and Phyllis. He drew up rules for the better security of justice for his slaves after he had left, and by his kindness he so won their hearts that when he threatened to leave them, they professed to be filled with despair. So strongly was he impressed with the evil arising from absent landlordism that in a codicil to his will he made it a condition of inheritance that the owner, whoever he or she might be, of his estates should pass three clear calendar months in Jamaica every third year. He made enemies for himself amongst the local magistrates, by taking upon himself the part of intercessor with their masters for slaves on neighbouring properties. He made one more visit to Jamaica. In October 1817 accompanied by Tita, an Italian valet, he set out for Jamaica in the same ship and with the same captain as in 1815. He reached Black River in February 1818, and this time he visited Hordley, but, as we have seen in the account of St. Thomas, had hardly sufficient time to effect such drastic changes as he had done at Cornwall. On his way he stopped at Kingston, where he saw performed at the theatre his own tragedy “Adelgitha,” whom the author meant only to be killed in the last act, but whom the actors murdered in all five.