George Alexander Stevens

George Alexander Stevens (1710 -September 6, 1780), was an English actor, playwright, poet, and songwriter. He was born in the parish of St. Andrews, in Holborn, a neighborhood of London. After spending many years as a traveling actor, he performed for the theater in Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House).

Stevens was most famous in his lifetime for his "Lecture on Heads", a satirical "lecture" on heads and fashion, which parodied the popularity of physiognomy. The lecture was first performed in 1764, and became an immediate success; he went on to perform it on tour throughout Great Britain, in Ireland, and in the American colonies at Boston and Philadelphia.

He was also known as popular song-writer, especially known for his bawdy drinking-songs and patriotic songs (such as [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/epoetry/stevensg.q2d/stevensg.q2d-96.html Liberty-Hall] and [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/epoetry/stevensg.q2d/stevensg.q2d-54.html The Briton] ). Many of both kinds were collected in his "Songs, comic and satyrical" (1788).

Stevens also authored several dramatic pieces for the stage, a novel entitled "Tom Fool", and a satire, "The Birthday of Folly".

He died in Baldock in Hertfordshire.

References

* Thomas Campbell (1819), "Specimens of the British Poets", pp. 436-440. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ha3tiZEpFmwC&ie=UTF-8&jtp=436 Available through Google Books Library Project] .

External links

* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.jsp?collections=epoetry&poet=Stevens,%20G.%20A. G. A. Stevens at the University of Texas English Poetry Full-Text Database]