(George), the most successful of all the editors and commentators of Shakespeare, was born 1735. Of his parents we know nothing, but that they seem to have been in circumstances which may be deemed affluent. George received the rudiments of his classical education at Kingston-upon-Thames, under the tuition of Dr Woodeson and his assistants; and had for a companion at that school Gibbon the historian. From Kingston he went to Eton, whence, after some years, he was admitted a fellow-commoner of King's College, Cambridge; but with the course of his studies in the university we are not acquainted. If we might hazard a conjecture, from the manner in which he employed his riper years, we should suppose that he had little relish for those mathematical speculations which in Cambridge lead to academical honours. After he left the university, he accepted a commission in the Essex militia on its first establishment; and he spent the latter years of his life at Hampstead in almost total seclusion from the world; seldom mixing with society but in the shops of bookellers, in the Shakespeare Gallery, or in the morning conversations of Sir Joseph Banks. He died January 1800. This is a very meagre account of the incidents which must have taken place in the life of a man so conspicuous in the republic of letters; but we have had no opportunity of informing it. His character, as drawn in the Monthly Magazine, believing it to be just, we shall adopt, as it will largely in some degree the defects of our narrative.

Though Mr. Steevens is known rather as a commentator than as an original writer; yet, when the works which he illustrated, the learning, sagacity, taste, and general knowledge which he brought to the task, and the success which crowned his labours, are considered, it would be an act of injustice to refuse him a place among the first literary characters of the age. Adorned by a versatility of talents, he was indeed eminent both by his pen and his pencil. With the one there was nothing which he could not compose, and with the other there was nothing which he could not imitate so closely, as to leave a doubt which was the original and which the copy. But his chief excellence lay in his critical knowledge of an author's text; and the best specimen of his great abilities is his edition of Shakespeare, in which he has left every competitor far behind him. He had, in short, studied the age of Shakespeare, and had employed his persevering industry in becoming acquainted with the writings, manners, and laws of that period, as well as the provincial peculiarities, whether of language or custom, which prevailed in different parts of the kingdom, but more particularly in those where Shakespeare passed the early years of his life. This store of knowledge he was continually increasing, by the acquisition of the rare and obsolete publications of a former age, which he spared no expense to obtain; while his critical sagacity and acute observation were employed incessantly in calling forth the hidden meanings of the great dramatic bard, from their covert, and consequently enlarging the display of his beauties. This advantage is evident from his last edition of Shakespeare, which contains so large a portion of new, interesting, and accumulated illustration. In the preparation of it for the press, he gave an instance of editorial activity and perseverance which is without example. To this work he devoted solely, and exclusively of all other attentions, a period of 18 months; and during that time he left his house every morning at one o'clock with the Hanaphead patrol, and proceeded, without any consideration of the weather or the season, to his friend Mr. Isaac Read's chambers, in Barnard's Inn, where he was allowed to admit himself, and found a room prepared to receive him, with a sheet of the Shakespeare letter press ready for correction. There was every book which he might wish to consult; and to Mr. Read he could apply, on any doubt or sudden suggestion, as to a man whose knowledge of English literature was perhaps equal to his own. This nocturnal toil greatly accelerated the printing of the work; as while the printers slept, the editor was awake; and thus, in less than twenty months, he completed his last splendid edition of Shakespeare, in fifteen large octavo volumes; an almost incredible labour, which proved the abounding energy and persevering powers of his mind.

That Mr. Steevens contented himself with being a commentator, arose probably from the habits of his life, and his devotion to the name, with which his own will descend to the latest posterity. It is probable that many of his jeux d'esprit might be collected: there is a poem of his in Doddley's Annual Register, under the title of The Frantic Lover, which is superior to any similar production in the English language. Mr. Steevens was a classical scholar of the first order. He was equally acquainted with the belles-lettres of Europe. He had studied history, ancient and modern, but particularly that of his own country. He possessed a strong original genius, and an abundant wit; his imagination was of every colour, and his sentiments were enlivened with the most brilliant expressions. His colloquial powers surpassed those of other men. In argument he was uncommonly eloquent; and his eloquence was equally logical and animated. His descriptions were so true to nature, his figures were so finely sketched, of such curious selection, and so happily grouped, that he might be considered as a speaking Hogarth. He would frequently, in his sportive and almost boyish humours, condescend to a degree of ribaldry but little above O'Keefe—with him, however, it lost all its coarseness, and assumed the air of classical vivacity. He was indeed too apt to catch the ridiculous, both in characters and things, and indulge an indolent animation wherever he found it. He scattered his wit and his humour, his gibes and his jeers, too freely around him, and they were not lost for want of gathering.

Mr. Steevens possessed a very handsome fortune, which he managed with discretion, and was enabled by it to gratify his wishes, which he did without any regard to expense; in forming his distinguished collections of classical learning, literary antiquity, and the arts connected with it. His generosity also was equal to his fortune; and though he was not seen to give eleemosynary dispenses to dirty beggars or sweepers of the crolings, few persons distributed banknotes with more liberality; and some of his acts of pecuniary kindness might be named, which could only proceed from a mind adorned with the noblest sentiments of humanity. He possessed all the grace of exterior accomplishment, acquired at a period when civility and politeness were characteristics of a gentleman.

He has bequeathed his valuable Shakespeare, illustrated with near 1500 prints, to Lord Spencer; his Hogarth perfect, with the exception of one or two pieces, to Mr. Windham; and his corrected copy of Shakespeare, with 200 guineas, to his friend Mr. Read.