history more
remarkable than this friendship. The gifted Dorothy Wordsworth described
Coleridge as "thin and pale, the lower part of the face not good, wide
mouth, thick lips, not very good teeth, longish, loose, half-curling,
rough, black hair,"--but all was forgotten in the magic charm of his
utterance. Wordsworth, who declared, "The only wonderful man I ever knew
was Coleridge," seems at once to have desired to see more of his new
friend. He and his sister removed in July 1797 to Alfoxden, near Nether
Stowey, to be in Coleridge's neighbourhood, and in the most delightful
and unrestrained intercourse the friends spent many happy days. It was
the delight of each one to communicate to the other the productions of
his mind, and the creative faculty of both poets was now at its best. One
evening, at Watchett on the British Channel, _The Ancient Mariner_ first
took shape. Coleridge was anxious to embody a dream of a friend, and the
suggestion of the shooting of the albatross came from Wordsworth, who
gained the idea from Shelvocke's _Voyage_ (1726). A joint volume was
planned. Wordsworth was to show the real poetry that lies hidden in
commonplace subjects, while Coleridge was to treat supernatural subjects
to illustrate the common emotions of humanity. From this sprang the
_Lyrical Ballads_, to which Coleridge contributed _The Ancient Mariner_,
the _Nightingale_ and two scenes from _Osorio_, and after much cogitation
the book was published in 1798 at Bristol by Cottle, to whose
reminiscences, often indulging too much in detail, we owe the account of
this remarkable time. A second edition of the _Lyrical Ballads_ in 1800
included another poem by Coleridge--_Love_, to which subsequently the
sub-title was given of _An Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladie_.
To the Stowey period belong also the tragedy of _Osorio_ (afterwards
known as _Remorse_), _Kubla Khan_ and the first part of _Christabel_. In
1798 an annuity, granted him by the brothers Wedgwood, led Coleridge to
abandon his reluctantly formed intention of becoming a Unitarian
minister. For many years he had desired to see the continent, and in
September 1798, in company with Wordsworth and his sister, he left
England for Hamburg. _Satyrane's Letters_ (republished in _Biog. Lit._
1817) give an account of the tour.

A new period in Coleridge's life now began. He soon left the Wordsworths
to spend four months at Ratzeburg, whence he removed to Gottingen to
attend lectu