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

by Washington Irving

  he Offense.

  hf So called after English boxer James Belcher (1781-1811), who often wore a blue handkerchief with white spots. (See William Hazlitt’s essay “The Fight”)

  hg Cocktail of hot water, wine, and lemon juice, sweetened and spiced.

  hh Incognito.

  hi From Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (act 2, scene 1).

  hj Or Tipu Sahib; sultan of Mysore (in southern India), who, aided by the French, fought against British colonization of India; he was defeated by General Wellesley at the city of Seringapatam in 1799.

  hk Antiquitates vulgares (1725), by English historian Henry Bourne; this quotation has not been located.

  hl Manhattan, a borough of New York City.

  hm Acacias [Irving’s note].

  hn In Greek mythology, the Hesperides were nymphs who guarded a garden with a tree that bore golden apples.

  ho See footnote on p. 424.

  hp see footnote on p. 402.

  hq From A Tale of a Tub (1633), by English poet Ben Jonson (act 3, scene 1, lines 67—74).

  hr Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, royal governor of New York and New Jersey (1703—1708).

  hs 1705 [Irving’s noteJ.

  ht Big and clumsy.

  hu Tuberculosis.

  hv Small covered pots used to hold ointments.

  hw Robert Hunter, royal governor of New York and New Jersey (1710—1719); he brought the Palatines (German refugees) to New York to produce naval stores for England.

  hx Mercenary soldiers from the Ukraine region.

  hy Rabies.

  hz Farmer (from the Dutch word boer).

  ia I will not, sir (Dutch and low German).

  ib Jacob Leisler (c.1640-1691), known for leading Leisler’s Rebellion (1689), in which he deposed New York’s lieutenant governor, Francis Nicholson, and named himself governor; he was tried and executed after refusing to step down.

  ic Candle made of the dried pith of a rush plant dipped in tallow.

  id Of the same age.

  ie Calvinist manual (1563) used to instruct children in the Christian faith.

  if Hunting knife.

  ig Landmarks along the Hudson River (subsequent references to such landmarks will not be annotated).

  ih This must have been the bend at West Point [Irving’s note].

  ii See footnote on p. 10.

  ij Belt made of strings of beads or shells that were used for money by some Native Americans.

  ik Small, schooner-rigged boat.

  il Provisions.

  im In Greek mythology, warriors under Achilles’ leadership in the Trojan War.

  in The song is unidentified.

  io Henricus Selyns (1636—1701), pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of New York (his poems were included in H. C. Murphy’s Anthology of New Netherland, 1865).

  ip See footnote on p. 411.

  iq Woman (Dutch).

  ir Site of the fortifications that guarded the approach to New York’s harbor.

  is See “Rip Van Winkle” (p. 87).

  it See p. 454.

  iu i.e., The “Thunder-Mountain,” so called from its echoes [Irving’s note].

  iv Boundary line.

  iw Among the superstitions which prevailed in the colonies, during the early times of the settlements, there seems to have been a singular one about phantom ships. The superstitious fancies of men are always apt to turn upon those objects which concern their daily occupations. The solitary ship, which, from year to year, came like a raven in the wilderness [see the Bible, 1 Kings 17:1-17], bringing to the inhabitants of a settlement the comforts of life from the world from which they were cut off, was apt to be present to their dreams, whether sleeping or waking. The accidental sight from shore of a sail gliding along the horizon in those as yet lonely seas, was apt to be a matter of much talk and speculation. There is mention made in one of the early New England writers of a ship navigated by witches, with a great horse that stood by the mainmast. I have met with another story, somewhere, of a ship that drove on shore, in fair, sunny, tranquil weather, with sails all set, and a table spread in the cabin, as if to regale a number of guests, yet not a living being on board. These phantom ships always sailed in the eye of the wind; or ploughed their way with great velocity, making the smooth sea foam before their bows, when not a breath of air was stirring.

  Moore has finely wrought up one of these legends of the sea into a little tale [“Written on Passing Deadman’s Island in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, Late in the Evening, September, 1804,” by Irish poet Sir Thomas Moore], which, within a small compass, contains the very essence of this species of supernatural fiction. I allude to his Spectre Ship, bound to Deadman’s Isle [Irving’s note].

  ix Legendary substance said to change baser metals into gold.

  iy See footnote on p. 37.

  iz Sideboards.

  ja Wealthy Dutch families whose descendants were recognized as the aristocracy of New York; American author Herman Melville’s mother was a Gansevoort.

  jb “Sinbad, the Sailor” is one of the better-known stories from The Arabian Nights (see endnote 6 to Bracebridge Hall).

  jc See p. 447.

  jd That is, planned.

  je Reckless.

  jf Rascal.

  jg One living off others.

  jh Old female cat.

  ji Former.

  jj That is, what is got over the devil’s back is spent under his belly (squandered).

  jk Social clubs.

  jl Sudden fit of emotion; a stroke.

  jm That is, the ablest teller of tall tales.

  jn From Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (act 1, scene 5).

  jo See the Bible, Genesis 23:4 (King James Version); compare also with the conclusion of Irving’s sketch “The Voyage” (p. 57).

  jp Allusion to Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice (act 5, scene 2).

  jq From an article (said to be by Robert Southey, Esq.) published in the Quarterly Review. It is to be lamented that that publication should so often forget the generous text here given [Irving’s note]. Robert Southey (1774-1843) was an English poet and man of letters.

  jr I love (German).

  js Moral fable.

  jt Greek physician (c.460-c.377 B.C.) known as the father of medicine.

  ju Pill.

  jv From the 1624 play by English dramatist John Fletcher (act 2, scene 1).

  jw The Great Unknown” is a nickname of Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. Scott published Waverley (1814), Peveril of the Peak (1822), and all of his other novels anonymously until 1827, generating much public speculation as to their authorship; his identity was an open secret by the time Irving published Tales of a Traveller (1824).

  jx A great hunter; see the Bible, Genesis 10:8-9.

  jy Liquor, usually a spiced ale or wine.

  jz That is, to her limits.

  ka Descendants of King Milesius, legendary Celtic invader of Ireland.

  kb Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), Swedish scientist, anatomist, and mystic, whose theory of correspondences influenced the transcendentalist movement in America.

  kc The French Revolution, which began in 1789.

  kd La Sorbonne, the University of Paris.

  ke Compare with the conclusion of Irving’s sketch “The Voyage” (p. 57).

  kf Canopy over a four-poster bed.

  kg Mythical reptile whose gaze kills its victims.

  kh Broom.

  ki In confusion.

  kj Venice is the site of an annual carnival in which participants dress in masquerade.

  kk Italian painter and poet (1615-1673), whose work was admired by members of the picturesque school (see endnote 4 to The Sketch-Book).

  kl Raphael (1483-1520), Titian (c.1485-1576), and Correggio (1490?-1534) were painters of the Italian High Renaissance.

  km Jesus is dead (Latin).

  kn Proverbial for “sudden reversal.”

  ko Breakwater piers.

  kp Person who res
olves problems of conscience with often specious reasoning.

  kq See the Bible, Luke 15:11-32.

  kr Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), Italian poet and librettist.

  ks See the Bible, Genesis 4:3-17.

  kt From The Jew of Malta (c.1589), by English dramatist Christopher Marlowe (act 2, scene 1).

  ku Drunkard.

  kv See p. 403.

  kw In book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, the names given to a sea monster and a whirlpool that guard either side of a hazardous strait through which Odysseus must steer his ship.

  kx Or Strait of Messina; channel dividing Sicily and Italy.

  ky For a very interesting and authentic account of the devil and his stepping-stones, see the valuable Memoir read before the New York Historical Society, since the death of Mr. Knickerbocker, by his friend, an eminent jurist of the place [Irving’s note]. Mr. Knickerbocker’s “friend” is a reference to Egbert Benson, who presented his memoir to the New York Historical Society in 1816; see Collections of the New York Historical Society, second series (1848), vol. 2, pp. 28-148.

  kz See p. 447.

  la That is, Throg’s Neck, a cape on Long Island Sound in Bronx County, New York.

  lb King Charles II of Great Britain and Ireland seized the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664; the colony was renamed New York when Charles granted it to his brother James, duke of York.

  lc William “Captain” Kidd (c.1645-1701), Scottish privateer turned pirate.

  ld Pirate.

  le That is, a storm-petrel, a seabird that lives its life far out at sea.

  lf Or Kedah, a Malaysian state.

  lg Richard Coote, earl of Bellamont, colonial governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire (1695-1701).

  lh Dive.

  li European explorer known for mapping the coastal region of New York and Connecticut (c.1614).

  lj Moneylender who charges exorbitantly high interest.

  lk Slang for “money.”

  ll Jonathan Belcher, colonial governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire (1730-1741); he was voted out of office because of his efforts to break up the Land Bank, a joint-stock company formed by merchants after the colony was forbidden to issue paper money.

  lm See footnote on p. 93.

  ln The stock exchange.

  lo Heavenward.

  lp Game of wit (French).

  lq In chapter 16 of Robinson Crusoe (1719), by English novelist Daniel Defoe, Crusoe makes a dugout canoe from an enormous cedar only to discover it is too large for him to move.

  lr Unexplored region.

  ls From Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (act 5, scene 2).

  lt Highly critical.

  lu John Wesley Jarvis (1781-1839) and Joseph Wood (1778?-1832?), New York artists famous for their silhouettes and miniatures; Jarvis painted Irving’s portrait in 1809.

  lv From the Latin compos mentis (“in good mental health”).

  lw Men of letters.

  lx Collecting on a debt.

  ly See footnote on p. 240.

  lz See footnote on p. 87.

  ma Irving indulges here in a moment of self-portraiture; critics often praised Irving for his style.

  mb The Philadelphia Port Folio, a weekly edited by Joseph Dennie, favorably reviewed Irving’s A History of New York in October 1812.

  mc Beloe’s Herodotus [Irving’s note]. The History of Herodotus, by William Beloe (London, 1791).

  md For notes on Wouter Van Twiller, William Kieft, and Peter Stuyvesant, see footnotes on pp. 411, 424, and 447, respectively.

  me Romulus and Remus: mythical founders of Rome; Charlemagne (742?-814): Carolingian king of the Franks, whose exploits are recounted in the French medieval epic Chanson de Roland; King Arthur: legendary Celtic warrior whose Knights of the Round Table are the subject of numerous medieval epics, including Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur; Rinaldo: title character of a chivalric poem (1562) by Italian poet Torquato Tasso; Godfrey of Bologne, or Godfrey of Bouillon (c.1058-1100): leader of the First Crusade, who was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1099.

  mf This manuscript is an invention of Irving’s.

  mg Xenophon (c.430-c.355 B.C.), Gaius Sallustius Crispus (or Sallust, c.86-c.34 B.C.), Thucydides (c.460-c.400 B.C.), Tacitus (A.D. c.55-c.117), Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17), and Polybius (c.203-c.120 B.C.) were all historians of ancient Greece and Rome.

  mh Quotation from Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783), by Scottish clergyman Hugh Blair.

  mi The quote is unlocated.

  mj A bad pun in Dutch: “point by point, rump by rump.”

  mk The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by English historian Edward Gibbon (6 vols., 1776-1788).

  ml In fact, two separate histories sometimes printed together by later publishers: The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, by Scottish historian David Hume (1754-1762), and History of England from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of George III, Designed as a Continuation of Mr. Hume’s History, by Scottish author Tobias Smollett (1757-1758).

  mm The architectural plan for Washington, D.C., drafted by French-born American architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791, took decades to complete.

  mn See endnote 9 to The Sketch-Book.

  mo Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?-1618), English explorer who sought to establish a colony at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, between 1584 and 1589.

  mp Broadsword bearing the mark of the famed craftsmen of the Italian house of Ferrara.

  mq (Gaius) Julius Caesar (100?-44 B.C.): Roman general and statesman; Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 21-180): Roman emperor and stoic philosopher; Apollo of Belvidere, or Apollo Belvedere: Roman copy of the famous statue of the Greek god Apollo attributed to Leochares (fourth century B.C.), named after the Belvedere Court in Vatican City, where it once stood. ‡Robert Juet (died c.1611) was a crewman on Henry Hudson’s expedition into Hudson Bay and was set adrift with Hudson after the crew’s mutiny (see endnote 9 to The Sketch-Book); Juet’s journal was included in Purchas, His Pilgrimes (1625), travel literature compiled by English clergyman Samuel Purchas.

  mr See footnote on p. 267.

  ms True it is—and I am not ignorant of the fact—that in a certain apooryphal book of voyages, compiled by one Hakluyt, [Richard Hakluyt (1552?-1616), English geographer whose The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589) gave some of the first European accounts of the New World] is to be found a letter written to Francis the First, by one Giovanne, or John Verazzani, [Or Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485-1528), Italian navigator who explored the New World for the French] on which some writers are inclined to found a belief that this delightful bay had been visited nearly a century previous to the voyage of the enterprising Hudson. Now this (albeit it has met with the countenance of certain very judicious and learned men) I hold in utter disbelief, [worthless] and that for various good and substantial reasons: First, Because on strict examination it will be found, that the description given by this Verazzani applies about as well to the bay of New York as it does to my nightcap. Secondly, Because that this John Verazzani, for whom I already begin to feel a most bitter enmity, is a native of Florence; and everybody knows the crafty wiles of these losel Florentines, by which they filched away the laurels from the brows of the immortal Colon (vulgarly called Columbus), and bestowed them on their officious townsman, Amerigo Vespucci; [Italian-Spanish explorer (1454-1512) of the New World] and I make no doubt they are equally ready to rob the illustrious Hudson of the credit of discovering this beautiful island, adorned by the city of New York, and placing it beside their usurped discovery of South America. And, thirdly, I award my decision in favor of the pretensions of Hendrick Hudson, inasmuch as his expedition sailed from Holland, being truly and absolutely a Dutch enterprise;—and though all the proofs in the world were introduced on the other side, I would set them at naught, as undeserving my attention. If these three reasons be not sufficient to satisfy every burgher
of this ancient city, all I can say is, they are degenerate descendants from their venerable Dutch ancestors, and totally unworthy the trouble of convincing. Thus, therefore, the title of Hendrick Hudson to his renowned discovery is fully vindicated.