352 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



sition of the rare and obsolete pub- 

 lications of a former age, which he 

 spared no expense to obtain ; 

 while his critical sagacity and acute 

 observation were employed inces- 

 santly in calling forth the hidden 

 meanings of our great dramatic 

 bard from their covert, and, con- 

 sequently, 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. 



It is to his own indefatigable 

 industry, and the exertions of his 

 printer, that we are indebted for 

 the most perfect edition of our im- 

 mortal bard that ever came from the 

 English press. In the preparation 

 of it for the printer, he gave an in- 

 stance of editorial activity and per- 

 severance which is without ex- 

 ample. 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 Haippstead patrole, and, 

 proceeding without any considera- 

 tion of the weather or the season, 

 called up the compositor, and woke 

 all his devils : 

 " Him late from Hampstead journeying 



to his book 

 Aurora oft for Cephalus mistook ; 

 What time he brush'd the dews with 



hasty pace, 

 To meet the printer's dev'let face to 



face." 



Pursuits of Literature. 



At the chambers of his friend 

 Mr. Reed, where he was allowed 

 to admit himself, with a sheet of the 

 Shakespeare letter-press ready for 

 correction, and found a room pre- 

 pared to receive him : there was 

 every book which he might wish to 

 consult ; and to Mr. Reed's pillow 



he could apply, on any doubt or sud- 

 den suggestion, for a knowledge of 

 English literature 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 20 months, he 

 completed his last splendid edition 

 of Shakespeare, in 15 large 8vo vo- 

 lumes ; an almost incredible labour, 

 which proved the astonishing energy 

 and persevering powers of his mind . 

 That he contented himself with 

 being a commentator, arose pro- 

 bably 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 \ns,jeux d'esprit might be 

 collected ; but we are not acquaint- 

 ed with any single production of his 

 pen, but a poem of a few stanzas 

 in the Annual Register, under the 

 title of " The Frantic Lover." Mr. 

 Steevens was a classical scholar of 

 the first order. He was equally ac- 

 quainted with the Belles Lettres of 

 Europe. He had studied history, 

 ancient and modem, but particular- 

 ly that of his own country. He 

 possessed a strong original genius 

 and an abundant wit ; his imagina- 

 tion was of every colour, and his 

 sentiments were enlivened with the 

 most brilliant expressions. With 

 these qualities, his colloquial powers 

 surpassed those of other men. In 

 argument he was uncommonly elo- 

 quent ; and his eloquence was 

 equally logical and animate. His 

 descriptions were so true to nature, 

 his figures were so finely sketched, 

 of such curious selection, and so 

 happily grouped, that he might 

 sometimes be considered as a speak- 

 ing Hogarth. He would frequently, 

 in his sportive and almost boyish 



