Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 | Page 3

after-life he recalled with pleasure the
many sports in that district which were the haunts of his early days, and
the scenes of the legends he afterwards embodied. While yet a child he
regularly took the organ in a chapel at Wigan during the Sunday service.
He also early excelled in drawing, and after he had commenced the
avocations of a banker the use of the pencil was a favourite recreation.
His first prose composition, at the age of fifteen years, took a prize in a
periodical for the best essay on a prescribed subject, by young persons
under a specified age. Thus encouraged, poetry, essay, tale, were all

tried, and with success. In his eighteenth or nineteenth year he received
a silver snuff-box, inscribed, "The gift of the Philosophic Society,
Wigan, to their esteemed lecturer and worthy member."
Mr Roby first appeared before the public as a poet; publishing in 1815,
"Sir Bertram, a poem in six cantos." Another poem quickly followed,
entitled "Lorenzo, a tale of Redemption." In 1816, he married Ann, the
youngest daughter of James and Dorothy Bealey, of Derrikens, near
Blackburn, by whom he had nine children, three of whom died in their
infancy. His next publication was "The Duke of Mantua," a tragedy,
which appeared in 1823, passed through three or four editions in a short
time, and after being long out of print, was included in the posthumous
volume of Legendary Remains. In the summer of that year he made an
excursion in Scotland, visiting "the bonnie braes o' Yarrow" in
company with James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. The literary leisure of
the next six years was occupied in collecting materials for the
_Traditions of Lancashire_, and in weaving these into tales of romantic
interest. In this task he received the most courteous assistance from
several representatives of noble houses connected with the traditions of
the county; particularly from the late Earl and Countess of Crawford
and Balcarres, and also from the late Earl of Derby.
The first series of The Traditions of Lancashire appeared in 1829, in
two volumes (including twenty tales), illustrated by plates. The
reception of the work equalled Mr Roby's most sanguine expectations;
and a second edition was called for within twelve months. The late Sir
Francis Palgrave, in a letter to Mr Roby, dated 26th October 1829, thus
estimates the work:--
"As compositions, the extreme beauty of your style, and the skill which
you have shown in working up the rude materials, must entitle them to
the highest rank in the class of work to which they belong.... You have
made such a valuable addition, not only to English literature, but to
English topography, by your collection--for these popular traditions
form, or ought to form, an important feature in topographical
history--that it is to be hoped you will not stop with the present
volumes."
The second series of the "Traditions," consisting also of two volumes
(including twenty tales), uniform with the first, was published in 1831,
and met with similar success. Both series were reviewed in the most

cordial manner by the leading periodicals of the day; while they were
more than once quoted by Sir Walter Scott, who characterised the
whole as an elegant work. In the production of these tales, Mr Roby's
practice was to make himself master of the historical groundwork of the
story, and as far as possible of the manners and customs of the period,
and then to commence composition, with Fosbroke's Encyclopedia of
Antiquities at hand, for accuracy of costume, &c. He always gave the
credit of his style, which the Westminster Review termed "a very model
of good Saxon," to his native county, the force and energy of whose
dialect arises mainly from the prevalence of the Teutonic element. "The
thought digs out the word," was his favourite saying, when the exact
expression he wanted did not at once occur. In these "Traditions" his
great creative power is conspicuous; about two hundred different
characters are introduced, no one of which reminds the reader of
another, while there is abundant diversity of both heroic and comic
incident and adventure. A gentleman, after reading the "Traditions,"
remarked that for invention he scarcely knew Mr Roby's equal. All
these characters, it should be stated, are creations: not one is an
idealised portrait. The short vivid descriptions of scenery scattered
throughout are admirable. Each tale is, in fact, a cabinet picture,
combining history and romance with landscape. Mr Roby excelled in
depicting the supernatural; and one German reviewer declared his story
of Rivington Pike to be "the only authentic tale of demoniacal
possession the English have."
In 1832, Mr Roby visited the English lakes, and recorded his
impressions in lively sketches both with pen and pencil. In the spring of
1837, he made a rapid tour on