m Guards, and continued in the army till 1706, by which time he
had attained the rank of a captain; a good deal of literary work was done
during his soldiering, notably "The Christian Hero" and several comedies;
appointed Gazetteer (1707), and for some two years was in the private
service of the Prince Consort, George of Denmark; began in 1709 to issue
the famous tri-weekly paper the _Tatler_, in which, with little
assistance, he played the part of social and literary censor about town,
couching his remarks in light and graceful essays, which constituted a
fresh departure in literature; largely aided by Addison, his old school
companion, he developed this new form of essay in the _Spectator_ and
_Guardian_; sat in Parliament as a zealous Whig, and in George I.'s reign
was knighted and received various minor court appointments; continued a
busy writer of pamphlets, &c., but withal mismanaged his affairs, and
died in Wales, secured from actual penury by the property of his second
wife; as a writer shares with Addison the glory of the Queen Anne Essay,
which in their hands did much to purify, elevate, and refine the mind and
manners of the time (1671-1729).

STEEN, JAN, Dutch painter, born in Leyden; was a _genre_ painter of
the style of Rembrandt, and his paintings display severity with sympathy
and a playful humour; he is said to have led a dissipated life, and to
have left his wife and a large family in extreme destitution (1626-1679).

STEEVENS, GEORGE, commentator on Shakespeare, born at Stepney; in
1736 edited 20 of Shakespeare's plays carefully reprinted from the
original quartos, and in 1731 his notes with those of Johnson in another
edition; a further edition, with a number of gratuitous alterations of
the text, was issued by him in 1793, and that was the accepted one till
the publication of Knight's in 1838 (1736-1800).

STEIN, BARON VON, Prussian statesman, born at Nassau; rose rapidly
in the service of the State, and became Prussian Prime Minister under
William III. in 1807, in which capacity he effected important changes in
the constitution of the country to its lasting benefit, till Napoleon
procured his dismissal, and he withdrew to Austria, and at length to St.
Petersburg, where he was instrumental in turning the general tide against
Napoleon (1757-1831).

STEIN, CHARLOTTE VON, a lady friend of Goethe's, born at Weimar;
Goethe's affection for her cooled on his return from Italy to see her so
chan