The Spirit of the Age to have inaugurated the Romantic movement in English poetry with the publication in 1798 of their "Lyrical Ballads". Hazlitt was introduced to Wordsworth by Coleridge, and both had a shaping influence on him, who was privileged to have read "Lyrical Ballads" in manuscript. Though Hazlitt was never close with Wordsworth, their relationship was cordial for many years. As between Coleridge and Hazlitt, as well as Southey and Hazlitt, differences between Wordsworth and Hazlitt over politics were a major cause of the breakdown of their friendship. But there was another cause for the rupture. Hazlitt had reviewed Wordsworth's "The Excursion" in
The Wordsworth Circle fourth issue of every volume. Subscriptions include membership in The Wordsworth-Coleridge Association. The Wordsworth Circle The Wordsworth Circle is a quarterly academic journal established in 1970 to publish contemporary studies of literature, culture, and society in Great Britain, Europe, and North America during the Romantic period from about 1760-1850. It covers work on the lives, works, and times of writers from that period, including publications and publishers. The journal includes work on non-literary figures (historians, scientists, artists, architects, philosophers, theologians, and social commentators) and topics (science, politics, religion, aesthetics, education, legal reform, and music)—anything that appeared during, impinges upon, or