From this preface, prefixed to poems in which it was impossible to
deny the presence of original genius, however mistaken its direction
might be deemed, arose the whole long-continued controversy. For from
the conjunction of perceived power with supposed heresy I explain the
inveteracy, and in some instances, I grieve to say, the acrimonious
passions, with which the controversy has been conducted by the
assailants.
Had Mr. Wordsworth's poems been the silly, the childish things which
they were for a long time described as being; had they been really
distinguished from the compositions of other poets merely by meanness
of language and inanity of thought; had they indeed contained nothing
more than what is found in the parodies and pretended imitations of
them; they must have sunk at once, a dead weight, into the slough of
oblivion, and have dragged the preface along with them. But year after
year increased the number of Mr. Wordsworth's admirers. They were
found, too, not in the lower classes of the reading public, but chiefly
among young men of strong sensibility and meditative minds; and their
admiration (inflamed perhaps in some degree by opposition) was
distinguished by its intensity, I might almost say, by its religious
fervour.
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