The _Lyrical Ballads_ by Wordsworth and Coleridge were published anonymously early in September, 1798--a few days before the joint authors sailed for Germany. Coleridge's contributions were _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_, _The Foster-Mother's Tale_, _The Nightingale_, and _The Dungeon_; the remaining nineteen poems were by Wordsworth. As the publication of this volume has been accepted by most critics as the first fruit of the new romantic spirit and the virtual beginning of modern English poetry, the reception accorded to the _Lyrical Ballads_ becomes a matter of prime importance. It is well known that the effort was a failure at first and that the apparent triumph of romanticism did not occur until the publication of Scott's _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ (1805); but a contemporary blindness to the beauty of two of the finest poems in English literature cannot be permitted to figure in the critics' dispassionate investigation of causes and influences. There were four interesting reviews of the first edition of the _Lyrical Ballads_, namely, (1) _Critical Rev._, XXIV, n.s. (197-204), in October, 1798, which is reprinted here; (2) _Analytical Rev._, XXVIII (583-587), in December, 1798; (3) _Monthly Rev._, XXIX, n.s. (202-210), in May, 1799, reprinted in Stevenson's _Early Reviews_; (4) _British Critic_, XIV (364-369) in October, 1799. The article in the _Critical Review_ was written by Robert Southey under conditions most favorable for such a malicious procedure. The publisher, his friend Cottle, had transferred the copyright of the _Lyrical Ballads_ to Arch, a London publisher, within two weeks of the appearance of the volume, giving as a shallow excuse the "heavy sale" of the book. Both Wordsworth and Coleridge were in Germany. Southey had quarreled with Coleridge, and was probably jealous of the latter's extravagant praise of Wordsworth. He accordingly seized the opportunity to assail the work without injuring Cottle's interests or entailing the immediate displeasure of the travelling bards.