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 an authentic and well-attested fact; and legendary lore, in
particular, he throws aside as worthless and unprofitable. The author of
the "TRADITIONS OF LANCASHIRE," in leaving the dry and heraldic
pedigrees which unfortunately constitute the great bulk of those works
that bear the name of county histories, enters on the more entertaining,
though sometimes apocryphal narratives, which exemplify and embellish
the records of our forefathers.
A native of Lancashire, and residing there during the greater part of
his life, he has been enabled to collect a mass of local traditions, now
fast dying from the memories of the inhabitants. It is his object to
perpetuate these interesting relics of the past, and to present them in
a form that may be generally acceptable, divested of the dust and dross
in which the originals are but too often disfigured, so as to appear
worthless and uninviting.
Tradition is not an unacceptable source of historical inquiry; and the
writer who disdains to follow these glimmerings of truth will often find
himself in the dark, with nothing but his own opinions--the smouldering
vapour of his own imagination--to guide him in the search.
The following extract from a German writer on the subject sufficiently
exemplifies and illustrates the design the author has generally had
before him in the composition and arrangement of the following
legends:--
"Simple and unimportant as the subject may at first appear, it will be
found, upon a nearer view, well worth the attention of philosophical and
historical inquirers. All genuine, popular Tales, arranged with local
and national reference, cannot fail to throw light upon contemporary
events in history, upon the progressive cultivation of society, and
upon the prevailing modes of thinking in every age. Though not
consisting of a recital of bare facts, they are in most instances
founded upon fact, and in so far connected with history, which
occasionally, indeed, borrows from, and as often reflects light upon,
these familiar annals, these more private and interesting casualties of
human life.
"It is thus that popular tradition, connected with all that is most
interesting in human history and human action, upon a national scale--a
mirror reflecting the people's past worth and wisdom--invariably
possesses so deep a hold upon its affections, and offers so many
instructive hints to the man of the world, to the statesman, the
citizen, and the peasant.
"Signs of approaching changes, no less in manners than in states, may
likewise be traced, floating down this popular current of opinions,
fertilising the seeds scattered by a past generation, and marking by its
ebbs and flows the state of the political atmosphere, and the distant
gathering of the storm.
"National traditions further serve to throw light upon ancient and
modern mythology; and in many instances they are known to preserve
traces of their fabulous descent, as will clearly appear in some of the
following selections. It is the same with those of all nations, whether
of eastern or western origin, Greek, Scythian, or Kamtschatkan. And
hence, among every people just emerged out of a state of barbarism, the
same causes lead to the production of similar compositions; and a chain
of connection is thus established between the fables of different
nations, only varied by clime and custom, sufficient to prove, not
merely a degree of harmony, but secret interchanges and communications."
A record of the freaks of such airy beings, glancing through the mists
of national superstition, would prove little inferior in poetical
interest and association to the fanciful creations of the Greek
mythology. The truth is, they are of one family, and we often discover
allusions to the beautiful fable of Psyche or the story of Midas;
sometimes with the addition, that the latter was obliged to admit his
barber into his uncomfortable secret. Odin and Jupiter are brothers, if
not the same person; and the northern Hercules is often represented as
drawing a strong man by almost invisible threads, which pass from his
tongue round the limbs of the victim, thereby symbolising the power of
eloquence. Several incidents in the following tales will be recognised
by those conversant with Scandinavian literature, thus adding another
link to the chain of certainty which unites the human race, or at any
rate that part of it from which Europe was originally peopled, in one
original tribe or family.
A work of this nature, embodying the material of our own island
traditions, has not yet been attempted; and the writer confidently hopes
that these tales may be found fully capable of awakening and sustaining
the peculiar and high-wrought interest inherent in the legends of our
continental neighbours. Should they fail of producing this effect, he
requests that it may be attributed rather to his want of power to
conjure up the spirits of past ages, than to any want of capabilities in
the subjects he has chosen to introduce.
To the local and to the general reader--to the antiquary and the
uninitiated--to the admirers of the fine arts and embellishments of our
literature, he hopes his labours will prove acceptable; and should the
plan succeed, not Lancashire alone, but the other counties, may in their
turn become the subject of similar illustrations. The tales are arranged
chronologically, forming a somewhat irregular series from the earliest
records to those of a comparatively modern date. They may in point of
style appear at the commencement stiff and stalwart, like the chiselled
warriors, whose deeds are generally enveloped in a rude narrative, hard
and ponderous as their gaunt and grisly effigies. The events, however,
as the author has found them, gradually assimilate with the familiar
aspects and everyday affections of our nature--subsiding from the stern
and repulsive character of a barbarous age into the usual forms and
modes of feeling incident to humanity--as some cold and barren region,
where one stunted blade of affection can scarce find shelter, gradually
opens Out into the quiet glades and lowly habitudes of ordinary
existence.
The author disclaims all pretensions to superior knowledge. He would not
even arrogate to himself the name of antiquary. Some of the incidents
are perhaps well known, being merely put into a novel and more popular
shape. The spectator is here placed upon an eminence where the scenes
assume a new aspect, new combinations of beauty and grandeur being the
result of the vantage ground he has obtained. Nothing more is attempted
than what others, with the same opportunities, might have done as
well--perhaps better. When Columbus broke the egg--if we may be excused
the arrogance of the simile--all that were present could have done the
same; and some, no doubt, might have performed the operation more
dexterously.
_1st October_ 1829.
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