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