The OED defines ‘manifesto’ as ‘propounding a theory or argument’, and in that limited sense it might describe the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth and Coleridge did not see themselves as founders of a movement or trend, nor as guerrillas fending off the exemplary monsters of previous centuries; they wanted to describe the style developed for Lyrical Ballads in contrast to that used by some other writers. The Preface was never designed as a philosophical work, as critics point out, and it is not unusual for prefaces to enshrine their authors’ inconsistences and contradictions. When Jeffrey used the term ‘manifesto’ he invoked it hyperbolically, puffing up the Preface so as to maximize its deflation. But Wordsworth never meant to articulate the vision of a school, was not attempting to be ‘revolutionary’, and had no suspicion he was defining Romanticism. He wanted to elucidate some ideas that informed Lyrical Ballads.