Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (57 page)

159.24 Chesterfield] Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) wrote
Letters to His Son
(1774) addressed to his illegitimate son, Philip. The letters, not originally intended for publication, counsel sophistication and the keeping up of appearances rather than normal behavior.

161.3 ‘merrie disport.'] Stow's
Survey of London,
1603 edition, p. 98. See note 92.41.

161.8 “mongrel, puppy, whelp ...”] From “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog,” in Chapter 17 of
The Vicar of Wakefield
(1766), by Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774).

161.11-12 “—The little dogs and all....”]
King Lear,
III, vi.

162.9-11 the old games of hoodman blind, shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, Bob apple, and snap dragon]
Hoodman blind:
Blind Man's Buff.
Shoe the wild mare:
The player chosen to be the wild mare was allowed a head start, and then chased by the other players. In trying to escape, the mare probably kicked enthusiastically. In a Scottish version the player chosen had to perform stunts upon a beam strung between two ropes. If he did not fall off he successfully shod the “auld” mare.
Hot cockles:
One player had to kneel down blindfolded, and, being struck, had to guess who hit him.
Bob apple:
The player had to try to catch in his mouth an apple swinging at the end of a string. (A bob is the weight at the end of a plumb-line.)
Snap dragon:
The object is to snatch raisins from a tray of blazing brandy, and eat them without burning oneself.

163.33-38 Come, bring with a noise.... ] Robert Herrick, “Ceremonies for Christmasse,” stanza 1, from
Hesperides
(1648).

164.15-16 perfectly orthodox] Minced pie, also called “Christmas pie,” was in disfavor with those of Puritan predilections, who did not observe Christmas.

167.27-28 “no spirit dares stir abroad,”]
Hamlet,
I, i.

168.1 waits] See note 151.21.

169.2-10 Dark and dull night....] From stanzas 1, 3, and 4 of Herrick's “A Christmas
Caroll
sung to the King in his Presence at
White-Hall,”
Number 96 in
Noble Numbers.

169.18-19 Rejoice ... morning.] The varying refrain of a carol, “The Sunny Bank,” found in
Songs of the Nativity,
pp. 23-24, published without a date by J. C. Hotten.

170.31-38 ‘Tis thou that crown'st....“] ”A Thanksgiving to God, for His House,”
Noble Numbers,
47, lines 37-44. See note 110.38.

171.36 Sir Anthony Fitzherbert] (1470-1538), judge and author. His
Booke of Husbandrie
is a practical manual for farmers.

172.21 Markham's Country Contentments] Gervase (or Jervaise) Markham (1568-1637), scholar, poet, dramatist, horsebreeder, and agriculturist.
Country Contentments
(1611) is a book for sportsmen.

172.21-22 the Tretyse of Hunting, by Sir Thomas Cockayne, Knight] Sir Thomas Cokayne (1519?-1592), a country gentleman who devoted himself to hunting, published A
Short Treatise of Hunting, compyled for the Delight of Noblemen and Gentlemen
in 1591.

172.22-23 Isaac Walton's Angler] Izaak Walton (1593-1683) wrote
The Compleat Angler
(1653) and a collection of lives of his contemporaries. See note 264.2-10 in “The Angler,” where Walton is repeatedly cited.

172.35 old Tusser] Thomas Tusser (ca. 1525-1580) became the poet laureate of the farm. He composed a
Hundred Good Points of Husbandry Married to as Many of Good Huswifery.
The verse is unlocated.

173.4-6 ‘deep, solemn mouths,' ...] The passage Irving quotes from concerns choosing dogs for “sweetness of cry.”

173.33 Caxton] William Caxton (ca. 1422-1491) set up the first printing press in England in 1476. Among his best productions are the
Morte d'Arthur
and
Canterbury Tales.

173.33 Wynkin de Worde] See note 103.20.

175.24 ... Theophilus of Cesarea] It is not at all clear which Theophilus Irving is referring to. The most likely candidate is Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria (385-428).

175.24 St. Cyprian] (ca. 200-258), bishop of Carthage.

175.24 St. Chrysostom] (345?-407), archbishop of Constantinople; the most famous Greek father.

175.25 St. Augustine] (354-430), bishop of Hippo. The greatest of the Latin fathers of the Church. Author of the
City of God
and
Confessions.

175.25 a cloud more] See Heb. 12:1: “a cloud of witnesses.”

176.8 Prynne] William Prynne (1600-1669), Puritan pamphleteer who compiled an enormous book attacking the theater, entitled
Histrio-Mastix.

176.9 round heads] That is, Puritans.

176.40-42 *“Ule! Ule! / Three puddings in a pule; / Crack nuts and cry ule!”] Unidentified.

177.18-23 Poor Robin ... catch 'em] See note 157.39.

177.22 duke Humphry] To dine with Duke Humphrey meant to fast.

177.23 Squire Ketch] Usually “Jack Ketch,” meaning the hangman, after a famous one of the seventeenth century.

177.37 black jacks] Large leather beer cups or jugs, coated with tar.

177.41
Round about our Sea-coal Fire]
The quotation is from
Round about our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments
(chap. 1, p. 1), an eighteenth-century pamphlet.

178.35 a Christmas box] An earthenware box in which apprentices and others collected contributions at Christmas. The box was later broken and the contents shared.

179.23 oil and wine] A frequently repeated biblical phrase.

180.14 WITHER'S JUVENILIA] George Wither or Withers (1588-1667), poet and pamphleteer. This is the first stanza of “A Christmas Carol,”
Juvenilia,
1622, pt. 3.

180.21-26 Just in this nick....] Stanza 15 of “A Ballad upon a wedding,” published in
Fragmenta Aurea
(1646). Sir John Suckling (1609-1642), royalist poet and playwright.

181.8-9 Belshazzar's parade of the vessels....] The incident, but not the quotation, is found in Dan. 5:1-4.

181.22 Holbein's portraits] Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), German painter who painted the portraits of many of the chief men of England, including King Henry VIII.

181.22 Albert Durer's prints] Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), German painter and graphic artist.

182.8-13 Caput apri defero ... convivio] One of at least four known versions of the “Boar's Head Carol.” This one was first printed in Wynkyn de Worde's
Christmasse Carolles
(1521). Translation: “The boar's head I bring, giving praises to the Lord ... who are present at the feast.”

183.5 full of expectation]
Henry
IV,
Part
I, II, iii, “a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation.”

183.25 servire cantico] Serve with a song.

183.30 In Reginensi Atrio] In the king's hall.

183.38 ... ancient oath, used by Justice Shallow, “by cock and pye.”]
Henry IV, Part II,
v, i, and
Merry Wives of Windsor,
I, i, “Cock” is a corruption of “God,” and “pye” is the service book of the pre-Reformation church.

183.39 Massinger in his City Madam] Philip Massinger (1583-1640), the dramatist. The quotation is from
City Madam,
II, i.

184.37-42 Next crowne ... a swinger] From Herrick's “Twelfe night, or King and Queen,” lines 19-24. F. Max Patrick's
Complete Poetry of Robert Herrick
annotates “Lamb's Wool” as “apple pulp,” and “a swinger” as “a whopper.”

185.5-18 The brown bowle, / The merry brown bowle, /..../ And sound a lusty laugh-a.*] The second stanza of a poem for June beginning “The Black Jack, / The merry Black Jack,” in Tutin's
Poor Robin's Almanack: Selected Verses
(n.d.) (see note 157.39).

185.24 slow hound] sleuth hound.

185.38 ARCHAEOLOGIA]
Archaeologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London,
was first published in 1773.

186.31-32 an “alphabet of faces,”] Thomas Nashe,
Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Divell
(1592); R. W. McKerrow, ed.,
The Works of Thomas Nashe,
I, 167, line 35.

186.42-187.1 “Cupid's Solicitor for Love;”] The verse is from “Song upon the wooing of a Widow,” in
Cupid's Solicitor of Love
(ca. 1640), by Richard Crimsall.

187.8 Joe Miller] (1684-1738) was a comic actor at Drury Lane, but
Joe Miller's jests, or the Wit's Vade Mecum,
published after his death, was a collection of jokes by John Motley, a dramatist.

187.26 mock fairies about Falstaff]
Merry Wives of Windsor,
V, v.

187.40 STOW] The note is from Stow's Survey of London, 1603 edition, p. 98. See note 92.41.

189.34 Covenanters] Those who supported the Scottish National Covenant of 1638, or the English Parliament's Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, which were directed toward the extirpation of Catholicism and Episcopacy.

190.37 Sir John Hawkins] (1719-1789). His
General History of the Science and Practice of Music
appeared in 1776.

191.25-30 At the time of ... Newstead Abbey.] Irving spent Christmas of 1831 at Barlborough Hall, Derbyshire, and then visited at Newstead Abbey, formerly Byron's home.

192.2-6—————I do walk ... FLETCHER] I cannot find which of the many poets named Fletcher wrote this verse. “Guido Vaux” is Guy Fawkes, a chief conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, which almost succeeded in blowing up both houses of Parliament and King James I on November 5, 1605. “William o‘the Wisp” (or Will-o'-the-wisp) is a malicious sprite who misled travelers; Robin Goodfellow (Puck) is a mischievous elf.

192.39 Knights Templars] The most famous of the three great military orders founded in the twelfth century. They originated in the Holy Land after the first crusade, and took their name from the so-called Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem where they were quartered.

195.27 Sir Thomas Sutton] (1532-1611). He made a fortune from coal mines.

195.35-196.5 Stow ... brotherly love.“] Stow died six years before the hospital was founded. The quotations are not from Stow but from John Strype's edition of Stow's
Survey
(London, 1754), bk. 1, chap. 27. See note 92.41.

197.2-5 What I write.... NASHE] From Thomas Nashe's prose work,
Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem. Whereunto is annexed a comparative admonition to London,
published in 1593. See also note 94.35.

198.29 eat pan cakes on Shrove Tuesday] Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, on which, in the middle ages, sins were confessed in preparation for Lent. The eating of pancakes derives from the need to use up eggs and fat, which were prohibited during Lent.

198.30 Michaelmas] The feast of the archangel Michael, September 29.

198.31-32 bum the Pope on the Fifth of November] November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, celebrating the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. See note 192.2-6.

198.38-39 the figures that strike the hours at St. Dunstan's clock] One of London's most popular sights were the two savages (or Hercules) which struck the hours of the clock of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West. When the church was razed in 1630, the figures were sold to the marquis of Hertford and taken to his villa at Regent's Park, still known as St. Dunstan's.

198.39 the Monument] See note 93.22.

198.39; 199.1 lions in the Tower] Stow's
Survey of London
says: “Henry I build his manor of Woodstock.... He placed therein ... divers strange beasts ... such as ... lions, leopards, lynxes ... and such other.” Since the time of Henry III “these lions and others have been kept in a part of this bulwark, now called the Lion Tower....” For Stow see note 92.41.

199.1 the wooden giants in Guildhall] See note 92.34-35.

199.27-28 Robert Nixon] Known as the Cheshire prophet, he was apparently an idiot who at intervals delivered oracles. His dates and even his existence are in doubt.

199.28 Mother Shipton] She was a supposed witch and prophetess who, according to tradition, lived in the late fifteenth century in Yorkshire.

199.34-35 the grasshopper on the top of the Exchange] The grasshopper was the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the Royal Exchange, and a figure of one stood on top of the building.

199.38-40 repairs ... workshop] These took place in 1820. On the church of St. Mary le Bow, see note 94.35.

200.4-6 The good old king ... had all at once given up the ghost; another king had mounted the throne] George III died January 29, 1820, and his son was crowned George IV.

200.6 a royal duke had died suddenly] Edward, duke of Kent, fourth son of George III, and father of Queen Victoria, died January 23, 1820.

200.6-7 another, in France, had been murdered] The Duc de Berri, son of Charles X, was murdered as he left the Paris Opera House on February 14, 1820.

200.7 there had been radical meetings] Agitation for reform, on such issues as universal suffrage and annual parliaments, led to frequent radical meetings between 1816 and 1819, especially in northern England.

200.8 the bloody scenes at Manchester] The Manchester or “Peterloo” massacre of August 16, 1819, when a huge meeting of wording people, held to demand Parliamentary reform, was charged by cavalry. A dozen people were killed and hundreds were injured.

200.8-9 the great plot in Cato Street] The foiled conspiracy of Arthur Thistlewood and twenty-three other Radicals to assassinate the members of the English Cabinet, while they were at dinner on February 23, 1820, resulted in the hanging of Thistlewood and four others.