I have often been asked how I first came to be a regular opium-eater, and have suffered, very unjustly, in the opinion of my acquaintance from being reputed to have brought upon myself all the sufferings which I shall have to record, by a long course of indulgence in this practice purely for the sake of creating an artificial state of pleasurable excitement. This, however, is a misrepresentation of my case. True it is that for nearly ten years I did...

This book comprises a collection of essays written by Thomas De Quincey. Within them, he furnished some of the earliest, most authentic, and most enlightening accounts of the Lake Poets-a group of poets that included Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets" is a fascinating read and is highly recommended for those with an interest in the Romantic Movement.