Although on the surface he appeared to be following in his father's footsteps toward the law, young William's true bent found expression in the Gothic melodramas that he wrote during adolescence. His imagination received ample sustenance through his reading of Mrs. Radcliffe and through the influence of his father and his father's young clerk, James Crossley. Thomas Ainsworth, though not a literary man, is credited in the preface to
Rookwood with inspiring his son's "strange passion for highwaymen" by often recounting their exploits to him. Perhaps more significant is the influence of Crossley, who, sharing the author's antiquarian fascination for history, was to become his lifelong friend and literary adviser.
After his father's death in 1824, Ainsworth left for London to continue his studies in the law. In 1826 he published in collaboration with J. P. Aston his first novel, Sir John Chiverton . Although the novel was read and enjoyed by Scott, it offers essentially the same stew of Gothic and melodramatic effects that are found in the juvenilia.
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