Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 | Page 4

the Continent, the notes and illustrative
sketches of which were published in two volumes, under the title of
_Seven Weeks in Belgium, Switzerland, Lombardy, Piedmont, Savoy,
&c._ In 1840, Mr Roby again visited the Continent by a different route,
making notes and sketches of what he saw. At the close of the year, he
was engaged in preparing a new edition of the "Traditions," in a less
expensive form. It was published in three volumes, as the first of a
series of Popular Traditions of England; his intention being to follow
up those of Lancashire with similar legends of Yorkshire, for which he
wrote a few tales, which appeared in Blackwood's and Eraser's
Magazines.

The principal literary occupation of the next four years appears to have
been the preparation and delivery of lectures on various subjects in
connection with literary and mechanics' institutions. In 1844, his health
gave way, and for years he suffered severely. As a last resource he tried
the water-cure at Malvern in the spring of 1847, and with complete
success. In the summer of 1849, he again married--the lady who
survived him, and to whose "sketch of his life" we are largely indebted
in this brief memoir. In the two short years following this marriage--the
two last of his life--he was busily engaged in writing and delivering
lectures, visiting places which form the scenes of some of his latest
legends, and in the composition of a series of tales intended to illustrate
the influence of Christianity in successive periods, a century apart.
Deferring that for the fourth century, he wrote six, bringing the series
down to the close of the seventh century; when he determined on
visiting Scotland. With his wife and daughter he embarked at Liverpool
on board the steamer Orion for Glasgow, which ill-fated vessel struck
on some rocks about one o'clock in the morning of the 18th June 1850,
and went down. Mrs and Miss Roby were rescued after having been
some time in the water, but of the husband and father only the corpse
was recovered, and his remains were laid in his family grave in the
burial-ground of the Independent Chapel, Rochdale, on Saturday, the
22d of that month.
Mr Roby was not more remarkable for his numerous and varied talents
than for his warm and affectionate heart, rich imagination, great love of
humour, and deep and earnest piety. He was a facile versifier, an
elegant prose writer, an able botanist and physiologist. Possessing a
fine ear, rich voice, and great musical taste, he not only took his vocal
share in part-song, but wrote several melodies, which have been
published. In one species of rapid mental calculation, or rather
combination of figures--giving in an instant the sum of a double
column of twenty figures in each row, or a square of six figures--he far
excelled Bidder, the calculating boy. He was a skilful draughtsman, a
clever mimic and ventriloquist, an excellent _raconteur_, an
accomplished conversationist, ever fascinating in the select social circle,
and always "tender and wise" in that of home. He was a man of genuine
benevolence, a cordial friend, an affectionate husband and father, and a
humble and devout Christian. His family crest was a garb or

wheat-sheaf, with the motto, "I am ready;" and in his case--though his
death was sudden and unexpected--illness and bereavement, mental and
physical suffering--in short, the chastenings and discipline of life, had
done their work. His "sheaf" was "ready for the garner."
October 1866.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] This Memoir has been almost wholly derived from the "Sketch of
the Literary Life and Character of John Roby," written by his widow,
and occupying 117 pages of the posthumous volume of his Legendary
and Poetical Remains.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST SERIES.
A preface is rarely needed, generally intrusive, and always
tiresome--seldom read, more seldom desiderated: a piece of egotism at
best, where the author, speaking of himself, has the less chance of
being listened to. Yet--and what speaker does not think he ought to be
heard?--the author conceives there may be some necessity, some reason,
why he should step forward for the purpose of explaining his views in
connection with the character and design of the following pages.
In the northern counties, and more particularly in Lancashire, the great
arena of the STANLEYS during the civil wars--where the progress and
successful issue of his cause was but too confidently anticipated by
CHARLES STUART, and the scene especially of those strange and
unholy proceedings in which the "Lancashire witches" rendered
themselves so famous--it may readily be imagined that a number of
interesting legends, anecdotes, and scraps of family history, are floating
about, hitherto preserved chiefly in the shape of oral tradition. The
antiquary, in most instances, rejects the information that does not
present itself in the form of