Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    88/240 (page 76)
    ALEXANDER STEPHENS, ESQ. proceeding to the West India Islands, principally with a view to add to his stock of useful information and knowledge of the world. Mr. Stephens purchased a Commission in the 84th regiment, but never joined in consequence of the sudden re- duction of that corps. At the age of 21, he entered himself a member of the Middle Temple, where he continued his vigorous pursuit of legal studies for several years. His earliest pro- duction was “Jamaica,” a descriptive poem; and his next, published within a few years afterwards, “ The Temple,” a kind of law journal. But of his printed works, undoubtedly, the most approved are the volumes of the “ Public Characters also a “Life of John Horne Took,” and the “ History of the Wars, which arose out of the French Revolution.” The industry of Mr. Stephens in the collection of the materials for his biographical Avorks has not often been surpassed. He was accustomed to commit to paper the most trifling memoranda illustrative of the history of any eminent individual the moment they Avere communicated to him. Mr. Stephens enjoyed the confidential friendship of the late Duke of Kent, and Avas in habits of unreserved intimacy with many other distinguished characters of the age. He Avas related to the Duke of Roxburgh, Avhose claim to that title he pleaded Avith memorable success in the House of Lords. Although generally of retired habits, Mr. Stephens often felt interested in the parochial concerns of Chelsea, and distinguished himself by the manliness and zeal Avith AA'hich he supported measures Avhich to him appeared likely to prove beneficial. Mr. Stephens AATote much and Avell for the periodical press. The pages of the Analytical RevieAV abound in important articles from his pen. To the Monthly Magazine, also, he Avas a frequent contributor. Besides the composition of papers on the Belles Lettres, he Avas in the habit of furnishing biograjjhical notices for that journal. In extent of information touching the lives and actions of the cotemporary generation, he A\’as equalled by feAV AATiters of his age. Mr. Stephens’s sound constitution AA-as gradually impaired by intense study, added to the im- moderate use of coldiam, on the efficacy of which he placed implicit reliance. For the last tAV'O years of his life he suffered severely from the gout, and at last died someAvhat suddenly at his house in Upper Church Street, in 1821, aged 64, and Avas interred in the burial ground attached to St. Luke’s Church.