View source for George Alexander Stevens

{{Short description|English actor and poet}}
{{other people|George Stevens}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
[[File:George Alexander Stevens (1710-80) and Mrs Paul Sandby (1736-1797), by Paul Sandby (1731-1809).jpg|thumb|George Alexander Stevens and Mrs Paul Sandby ([[Paul Sandby]])]]
'''George Alexander Stevens''' (1710 – 6 September 1780) was an [[England|English]] [[actor]], [[playwright]], [[poet]], [[composer]] and [[songwriter]]. He was born in the parish of St. Andrews, in [[Holborn]], a neighbourhood of London.  After spending many years as a travelling actor, he performed for the theatre in [[Covent Garden]] (now the [[Royal Opera House]]).

Stevens was most famous in his lifetime for his ''[[Lecture on Heads]]'', a [[satire|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 songwriter, 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]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/epoetry/stevensg.q2d/stevensg.q2d-54.html The Briton]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}).  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 used the pen-name "A Lady",<ref name="Clarke">{{Cite book|title=Pseudonyms|author=Joseph F. Clarke|publisher=BCA|date=1977|page=97}}</ref> for part of ''The Female Inquisition''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/gentlemansmagaz326unkngoog|year=1784|publisher=F. Jefferies|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gentlemansmagaz326unkngoog/page/n333 795]–}}</ref>

He died in [[Baldock]] in [[Hertfordshire]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Thomas Campbell (poet)|Thomas Campbell]] (1819), ''Specimens of the British Poets'', pp.&nbsp;436–440. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ha3tiZEpFmwC Available through Google Books Library Project].

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=24909| name=George Alexander Stevens}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=George Alexander Stevens |birth=1710 |death=1780 |sopt=t }}
* [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]
*[https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00332.shtml George Alexander Stevens] at the [https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/ Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)]
*[http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b19730238~S1 George Alexander Stevens. The celebrated lecture on heads, broadside, 1765 Sept. 12], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, George Alexander}}
[[Category:1710 births]]
[[Category:1780 deaths]]
[[Category:English male songwriters]]
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