_George Steevens_ (Vol. iii., p. 119.).--A. Z. wishes to know whether a
memoir of George Steevens, the Shakspearian commentator, was ever
published, and what has become of the manuscripts.
I believe the late Sir James Allen Park wrote his life, but whether for
public or private circulation I cannot tell.
The late George Steevens had a relative, a Mrs. Collinson, and daughters
who lived with him at Hampstead, and with him when he died, in Jan. 1800.
Miss Collinson married a Mr. Pyecroft, whose death, I think, is in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ for this month: perhaps the Pyecroft family may give
information respecting the manuscripts.
"The house he lived in at Hampstead, called the Upper Flask, was
formerly a place of public entertainment near the summit of Hampstead
Hill. Here Richardson sends his Clarissa in one of her escapes from
Lovelace. Here, too, the celebrated Kit-Cat Club used to meet in the
summer months; and here, after it became a private abode, the no less
celebrated George Steevens lived and died."--Vide Park's _Hampstead_,
pp. 250. 352.
I just recollect Mr. Steevens, who was very kind to us, as children. My
mother, who is an octogenarian, remembers him well, and says he always took
a nosegay, tied to the top of his cane, every day to Sir Joseph Banks.