Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (58 page)

200.9 the Queen had returned to England] Caroline, wife of George IV, had been excluded from court while her husband was regent, and had been living in Italy. On George's accession to the throne in 1820 she returned to England to claim her rights as queen.

200.17-18 that steeple ... Wittington and his Cat] Richard Whittington (d. 1423) was an extremely wealthy man, and several times mayor of London. Popular legend has him a poor orphan who makes his fortune by capitalizing on the rat-catching abilities of his cat, and by heeding the sound of Bow bells. See note 94.35.

200.26 Gentleman's Magazine] Founded by its publisher, Edward Cave, in 1731. Samuel Johnson later joined the staff. The bulk of the magazine, which appeared monthly until 1907, consisted of excerpts and condensations from the newspapers.

200.26 Rapin's History of England] Paul de Rapin (1661-1725) wrote a
History of England
(1723-1725) to the time of William and Mary.

200.27 Naval Chronicle] A history of the Royal Navy, containing original papers on nautical matters. It appeared between 1799 and 1818.

201.1 Margate] A seaside report on the Isle of Thanet, in Kent.

201.25-26 “Truman, Hanbury, and Co's. Entire,”] “Entire” or “Entire butt” was a mixture of ale, beer, and twopenny, similar to what is now referred to in England as “Porter.”

201.26 Old Tom] A strong English gin.

201.27 Bacchus and Momus] In classical mythology Bacchus is god of wine and intoxication while Momus is god of mockery and censure.

202.7 trowle] Now spelled troll. A round. “Trowle” in the third stanza of the song means “pass.”

202.7 Gammer Gurton's Needle] One of the earliest English comedies, written probably by William Stevenson about 1559, and performed at Christ's College, Cambridge. The “Confession of Faith” opens act 2.

202.18-25; 203.28-41 I cannot eate....] Nut browne toste: “nut browne and tost: ale”; crab: crab apple; mault-worme: “malt worm: one who loves malt liquor.” (Definitions are from the
Oxford English Dictionary.)

203.8 St. Bartholomew's Fair] King Henry I granted a charter to Royer or Rahere, the king's minstrel, founder and first prior of the Priory and Hospital of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, to hold an annual fair and use the proceeds for his institution. In the early eighteenth century the Fair became notoriously immoral. Ben Jonson's comedy,
Bartholomew
Fair, gives a fine picture of the event. The following notes on shows at the Fair come from H. Morley's
Memoirs of Bartholomew
Fair (1859).

203.8-9 Lord Mayor's day] November 9, the date of inauguration of the Lord Mayor of London.

203.21 the Flying Horses] Horse shows were quite popular at such fairs, but this particular act is unidentified. See, for example, Dickens'
Hard Times.

203.22 Signior Polito] The owner of a famous menagerie or Wild Beast Show.

203.22 the Fire Eater] Madame Josephine Girardelli, the “Fireproof Lady” or the “Female Salamander,” was a well-known “fire-eater” at the Fair in the years before Irving wrote “Little Britain.”

203.22 the celebrated Mr. Paap] The Dutch dwarf, Sampoeman, known as Simon Paap. He was shown at the Fair in 1815, and later presented to the Royal Family. At the time, he was 26 years old, weighed 27 pounds, and measured 28 inches in height.

203.22-23 the Irish Giant] Perhaps Patrick O'Brien, who was last exhibited in 1804.

204.5 Temple Bar] One of the gates of the city of London, at the junction of the Strand and Fleet Street. The last actual gateway was removed in 1878. The sovereign ceremonially halts there to receive permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the City.

204.17 train bands] See note 95.16.

204.34 All-Fours] a card game.

204.34 Pope-Joan] Unidentified.

204.34-35 Tom-come-tickle-me] Apparently a kind of a tag game.

204.38 Epping Forest] About 16 miles from Little Britain.

205.35 Kean] Edmund Kean (1787-1833), perhaps England's greatest tragic actor. His portrayals of Shylock and Lear in particular are landmarks in theatrical history.

209.6 GARRICK] David Garrick (1717-1779), the famous actor. The quotation is the first stanza of Air VI of his “Ode” composed for the Stratford jubilee of 1769, which he was instrumental in organizing.

209.19-20 “Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn?”]
Henry IV, Part I,
III, iii.

209.31-32 the Jubilee, and David Garrick]

210.10 a garrulous old lady] Mrs. Mary Hornby, who lived at the birth-place from 1793 to 1820.

210.20 Shakespeare's mulberry tree] This tree stood in the garden of Shakespeare's house, New Place, though there is no proof that he himself planted it. It was cut down in 1758 and numerous artifacts made from the wood.

210.36-37 the Santa Casa of Loretto] See note 78.6-7.

210.37 the flying chair of the Arabian enchanter] Possibly a reference to King Housain's magic Persian carpet in the Arabian Nights.

210.38 sold ... to a northern princess] Known as Shakespeare's chair, the original relic was sold in 1790 to Princess Czartoryska, who took it to Poland. But there were at least three other oak chairs for sale among Mrs. Hornby's relics.

211.8 a play of her own composition]
The Battle of Waterloo,
a tragedy (Stratford-upon-Avon, 1819)

212.1 grand daughter] Sally Kite (afterward Trinder).

212.3 John Ange] Joseph Ainge, an almsman of the borough.

213.7-10 Good friend....] The spelling is modernized here.

213.36-37 Mrs. Hall] His first child. She was actually buried in the churchyard, not in the church.

213.38 John Combe, of usurious memory] The charge of usury probably derives from John Aubrey (1626-1697), collector of anecdotes, and appears to be unfair. John Combe, a wealthy Stratford bachelor, died in 1614 and left Shakespeare £5 in his will. The “ludicrous epitaph” supposedly written by Shakespeare can be found in Aubrey's
Brief Lives.

214.17-18 Sir Thomas Lucy] (1532-1600), owner of Charlecote Hall. The Lucys did not own a deer park during Shakespeare's youth, though they did much later. The legend owes most to Nicholas Rowe's biography of Shakespeare prefaced to his six-volume edition of the plays (1709).

214.31 revenged himself in his writings] This supposed revenge is in The
Merry Wives of Windsor,
I, i. See 220.12.

214.34-42 A parliament member ....] Although these lines were attributed to the poet by an old man who lived near Stratford and died in 1703, they are probably not authentic.

215.32-33 a traditionary anecdote ... Avon.“]
Picturesque Views on the Warwickshire
Avon was published in 1795 by Samuel Ireland after a visit to Stratford to gather material for the book. His escort, John Jordan, Stratford poet and forger of Shakespeariana, apparently invented numerous village customs for his benefit, such as this one.

216.21-27; 217.1-2 song in Cymbeline ... lady sweet arise!] II, iii.

217.9-11 “to sit round the fire . . . goblins, and friars.”] Unidentified.

217.35 *Scot, in his “Discoverie of Witchcraft,”] Published in 1584, this scholarly work was written by Reginald Scot (d. 1599) to reveal the folly of persecuting witches. Shakespeare's witches in
Macbeth
in part derive from it. The passage is from bk. 7, chap. 15.

218.19 meditations of Jaques] See
As You Like It,
II, vii.

218.30—37 Under the green wood tree ... winter and rough weather.] As
You Like It,
II, v. The second and third lines should read: “And turn his merry note / Unto the sweet bird's throat.”

219.18-20
“Falstaff
... good air.”]
Henry IV,
Part
II,
V, iii.

220.38-39 a portrait by Sir Peter Lely] The portrait is actually by Sir Godfrey Kneller, a native of Holstein, who was invited to England in 1674. He was court painter from 1680 until his death in 1723. For Lely, see note 67.25.

221.16 as Master Slender would say, “a cane-coloured beard.”] It is Simple, not Slender, who, in
The Merry Wives of Windsor,
I, iv, speaks of a “cane [or ‘Cain'] coloured beard.”

221.41 *Bishop Earle] John Earle (1601-1665), chaplain to Charles II in exile, wrote
Micro-cosmographie,
or,
A Peece of The World Discovered; In Essayes and Characters
(1628). The quotation is from Number 17, An Upstart Knight.

222.17 with that pity “that dwells in womanhood.”] Unidentified.

222.18-19 brief authority] “Man, proud man! dressed in a little brief authority.” Measure for Measure, II, ii.

222.25-26 “to a last year's pippin of his own graffing, with a dish of carraways;”] Henry IV,
Part
II, V, iii.

222.36 description of a Mr. Hastings] Henry Hastings (1551-1650) son of the fourth earl of Huntingdon. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the first earl of Shaftesbury, inscribed on Hastings' portrait an account of his life, which was later reprinted in various publications. The passage in Shaftesbury's account is practically identical to the one quoted.

223.1-6 “By cock and pye, Sir....”] See note 183.38.

223.13-14 “‘Tis merry in hall....”]
Henry IV, Part II,
V, iii.

223.18 “working day world”]
As You Like It,
I, iii.

223.24 airy nothings] “The poet's pen ... gives to airy nothing / A local habitation and a name.”
A Midsummer Night's Dream,
V, i.

223.26 I had heard Jaques soliloquize beneath his oak]
As You Like It,
II, vii.

223.27-28 the fair Rosalind ... woodlands] In
As You Like It.

223.29-30 Falstaff ... Justice Shallow ... Master Slender ... Anne Page] They are all characters in
The Merry Wives of Windsor;
and, as the preceding quotations indicate, the three men also appear in
Henry IV,
Parts I and II.

225.6 SPEECH OF AN INDIAN CHIEF] Logan, or Tahgahjute (ca. 1725- 1780), a Cayuga who acquired great influence with the Shawnee after marrying into their tribe, supposedly sent this speech to a peace council after a battle with the British at Point Pleasant on the Ohio in 1774. Its authenticity has been questioned.

226.37-42 The American government has been indefatigable ....] The government's sincerity and fairness have in recent times been seriously questioned.

227.9-15 “For,” says an old historian.... meanly of.“] The passage is quoted almost word for word from Thomas Morton's
New English Canaan
(1637), bk. 1, p. 178.

228.12-13 an old record of the early settlement] Morton's New English
Canaan.
The incident occurs in bk. 3, pp. 169-71, and Irving's report of the sachem's speech closely follows Morton's.

230.32-33 glorious “pomp and circumstance of war,”]
Othello,
III, iii: “pomp and circumstance of glorious war!”

231.36-38 one of the homely narratives ... Pequod Indians.
A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England
(Boston, 1677) by the Reverend William Hubbard (1621-1704), who emigrated to New England in 1635.

233.9-10 that gigantic race said to have existed on the borders of the Susquehanna] Unidentified.

233.14-15 “the places that now know them will know them no more for ever.”] Unidentified.

233.25-28 “We are driven back ... to exist.”] Source unidentified.

234.9 CAMPBELL] Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Scottish poet. The quotation is from “Gertrude of Wyoming” (1809), a poem focusing on a Mohawk raid on the Pennsylvania settlement of Wyoming. See pt. 1, stanza 23, lines 3-9.

235.11 PHILIP OF POKANOKET] He died in 1676. Irving is essentially correct in the details of his life.

235.41 a celebrated English poet] Robert Southey (1774-1843), who became poet laureate of England in 1813. The poem Irving refers to is “Oliver Newman, A New England Tale” (1837).

237.4 Metamocet] Actually Metacomet.

239.34 one of the learned men of the day] That is, Increase Mather.

239.41
^*
The Rev. Increase Mather's History]
A Brief History of the War with the Indians in New England
(1676) by Increase Mather (1639-1723), the father of Cotton Mather, for whom see note 276.41.

240.3-4 a worthy clergyman of the time] The Reverend William Hubbard. See note 231.36-38.

241.39-41 “He was ... English;”] Hubbard.

243.9-10 “he would fight it out ... English.”] Hubbard.

243.33 peag] Beads made from shell, strung together and used by the Indians as money.

243.38-39 “his heart and his bowels ... of strength.”] Hubbard.

244.5-10 Being questioned ... answer.“] Hubbard.

244.19-20 “and he desired to hear no more thereof.”] Hubbard.

244.27-28 “that he liked it well ... himself.”] Hubbard.

244.29 Stonington] in Connecticut.

245.2-8 “His ruin ... away.”] Hubbard.

245.18-19 where the wicked ... troubling] Job 3:17: “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.”

245.26 “most horrid and diabolical lamentations.”] Hubbard.

245.29-33 “he never rejoiced afterwards ... deliverance.”] Hubbard.

245.41-246.5 “Phillip,” he says ... upon him.“] Hubbard.

246.33 “beloved wife and only son”] Hubbard.

248.1
JOHN BULL] Law is
a
Bottomless Pit, or the History of John Bull
(1712), a satire by Dr. John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), contained a character named “John Bull” who allegorically stood for England. The name soon gained popularity and was applied to the nation or a particular Englishman. Irving's friend James K. Paulding wrote
The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan,
and sent Irving a copy of it in 1812.