Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Writings (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (75 page)

Roman aristocrat and tribune (153?-121 B.C.) who sponsored agrarian reforms that were considered radical by the Senate; he was assassinated, in part because his unorthodox political tactics angered his opponents.

The Gauls, Goths, and Vandals were ancient European peoples who harried the Roman Empire from c.300 to c.455 B.C.

Numa Pompilius, legendary king of Rome who succeeded Romulus and ruled with the help of the nymph Egeria.

Xanthippe, the wife of Greek philosopher Socrates (c.470-399 B.C.), is infamous for having been shrewish and scolding; compare her with Dame Van Winkle (see pp. 74 and 88).

The following cases in point appear in Hazard’s Collection of State Papers.

“In the meantime, they of Hartford have not onely usurped and taken in the lands of Connecticott, although unrighteously and against the lawes of nations but have hindered our nation in sowing theire own purchased broken up lands, but have also sowed them with corne in the night, which the Nederlanders had broken up and intended to sowe: and have beaten the servants of the high and mighty the honored companie, which were laboring upon theire master’s lands, from theire lands, with sticks and plow staves in hostile manner laming, and among the rest, struck Ever Duckings [Evert Duyckink] a hole in his head, with a stick, so that the bloode ran downe very strongly downe upon his body.”

“Those of Hartford sold a hogg, that belonged to the honored companie, under pretence that it had eaten of theire grounde grass, when they had not any foot of inheritance. They proffered the hogg for 5s. if the commissioners would have given 5s. for damage; which the commissioners denied, because noe man’s own hogg (as men used to say) can trespass upon his owne master’s grounde.”

The copy in brackets is by Washington Irving. “Hazard’s Collection of State Papers” refers to
Historical Collections
(1792-1794), by Ebenezer Hazard, an American public official and historian. Irving’s bracketed text probably refers to Evert Duyckinck (c.1620-c.1700), a painter and glazier, known for his stained glass windows ; Irving may have included this detail in homage to New York editor and biographer Evert Duyckinck (1816-1878), who published an edition of
Salmagundi
in 1860.

samson was a biblical judge of Israel who, according to an angel’s prophesy, would be invincible as long as his hair was never cut; the reference here is to his taking honey from a swarm of bees in the carcass of a lion he had slain (see the Bible, Judges 14:8).

In Greek mythology, a hero of the Trojan War; his mother dipped him in the River Styx, thereby making him invulnerable except at the heel by which she held him.

Title character of a medieval romance (1516, 1532) by Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto.

Jacobus Van Curlet (also given as Van Curler), Dutch merchant who established the House of Hope, a trading post on the Connecticut River at the site where Hartford now stands.

At the battle of Narva (November 20, 1700), King Charles XII of Sweden defeated a Russian army that outnumbered his forces by nearly five to one.

See the Bible, Proverbs 6:6.

The bridge here mentioned by Mr. Knickerbocker still exists; but it is said that the toll is seldom collected nowadays, excepting on sleighing parties, by the descendants of the patriarchs, who still preserve the traditions of the city.

Cousin of Roland in Ariosto’s
Orlando Furioso
(see p. 434).

In Greek mythology, Alecto (meaning “unceasing pursuit”) is one of the Erinyes, or Furies, who pursue evil-doers; she is sometimes figured blowing a horn to call the other Furies to the chase.

ln the Bible (Joshua 6), the Israelites blow seven rams’ horns to bring down the walls of Jericho.

See p. 384.

see the Bible, Numbers 22:21-35.

See footnote on p. 10.

Greek poet (eighth century B.C.?), author of
Works and Days and Theogony.

Last Dutch director-general of New Netherland (1646-1664).

Probably Gaius Plinius Secondus, or Pliny the Elder (A.D. c.23-79), known for his stoic philosophy; but the quotation is unlocated.

Vase for collecting tears; in ancient Roman tradition, tombs of the well-to-do held vases that supposedly contained the tears of their grieving relatives.

Common names for anonymous or unidentified persons.

In Homer’s Iliad, Ajax was the strongest among the Greeks after Achilles.

Homer
(c.700 B.C.): Greek poet to whom the Iliad and the
Odyssey
are attributed;
Virgil
(70-19 B.C.): Roman poet whose
Aeneid
was a national epic of Roman civilization.

See the histories of Masters Josselyn and Blome [Irving’s note].

Czar of Russia (1682-1725) who modernized the government and moved the capital to St. Petersburg.

The Greek philosopher Plato (427?-347 B.C.) is known for his
Dialogues
and
Republic.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was another Greek philosopher who studied under and succeeded Plato. In
Leviathan
(1651), British philosopher and political scientist Thomas Hobbes argues against the separation of church and state. British statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is known as the father of the modern scientific method. English politician Algernon Sydney (1622-1683) opposed Charles II in the English Civil War and was executed for participating in the Rye House Plot; his
Discourses Concerning Government
(1698) were widely read in the colonies. Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was a British-American political philosopher; his pamphlet
Common Sense
justified the American Revolution.

After eliminating the seven remaining earls of Caledonia, Kenneth I (c.843) had himself declared king of Scotland at the ancient stone of destiny in the Pictish monastery of Scone.

Prophetesses.

Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus (A.D. 39-81), Roman emperor whose legions captured and destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Whale.

Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) was a Roman historian; Hannibal (247-183? B.C.) was a general of Carthage who fought numerous battles against the Roman Empire.

Swedish settlement on the Delaware River; it was captured by the Dutch under Stuyvesant in 1655.

Herbal remedy used to induce vomiting.

Roman historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (or Sallust, c.86-c.34 B.C.).

Substitute or proxy.

Here referring to Moorish invaders of medieval Spain.

The first Asturian king, who began the reconquest of Spain from the Saracens.

Home remedies.

See footnote on p. 402.

Dutch common names for the festivals of Easter and Whitsunday (Pentecost).

Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral who, in the second Dutch War, defeated the English in the naval encounter known as the Four Days’ Battle (June 11-14, 1666); he was defeated in turn by the British at the St. James Day Fight (July 25, 1666).