The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Wr - Washington Irving [251]
Spencer, Benjamin T. The Quest for Nationality: An American Literary Campaign. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1957.
Thoreau, Henry David. The Writings of Henry David Thoreau. 20 vols. Edited by Bradford Torrey and F. B. Sanborn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906.
Williams, Stanley T. The Life of Washington Irving. 2 vols. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1935.
a
Followers.
b
Mythical hero of ancient Greece who possessed remarkable strength and the courage to accomplish any task.
c
Cool indifference; literally, “cold blood” (French).
d
Ornate speeches, such as those printed from engraved copper printing plates.
e
As in the slow, stately pace of the minuet.
f
That is, the conceited arrogance of young men.
g
A sweet alcoholic drink.
h
Or salmagundi: dish made up of an assortment of meats, eggs, and vegetables; a miscellany.
i
Face; shortened from “physiognomy.”
j
The title of a newspaper published in New York, the columns of which, among other miscellaneous topics, occasionally contained strictures on the performances at the theatres.—Paris Ed. [Irving’s note].
k
Fictional family whose exploits are depicted in subsequent numbers of Salmagundi.
l
This sentence concludes with a list of the regular features and columns of Salmagundi.
m
Flamboyant, ostentatious man.
n
That is, their colloquial expressions.
o
That is, an owl.
p
Coach drawn by four horses.
q
Stereotypical Englishman.
r
Greek lyric poet (c.518-c.438 B.C.).
s
Variant of “thingamajigs” or “what-do-you-call-them:”
t
Coastal sailing vessel.
u
Several Tripolitan prisoners, taken by an American squadron, in an action off Tripoli, were brought to New York, where they lived at large, objects of the curiosity and hospitality of the inhabitants, until an opportunity presented to restore them to their own country.—Paris Ed. [Irving’s note].2
v
Or Muhammad (570?-632), prophet and founder of Islam, whose revelations are recorded in the Qur’an. In 1850 Irving published Lives of Mahomet and His Successors, a biography he worked on sporadically for years.
w
Beautiful young women who inhabit the Muslim paradise.
x
Harems. ‡A landscape in The Citizen of the World; or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the East (1762), by English poet Oliver Goldsmith (letter 76, “The Preference of Grace to Beauty: An Allegory”).
y
Or dervishes; mendicant ascetics and religious teachers of Islam.
z
This is another allusion to the primitive habits of Mr. Jefferson [see endnote 4], who, even while the first magistrate of the Republic, and on occasions when a little of the “pomp and circumstance” of office would not have been incompatible with that situation, was accustomed to dress in the plainest garb, and when on horseback to be without an attendant; so that it not unfrequently happened that he might be seen, when the business of the state required his personal presence, riding up alone to the government house at Washington, and having tied his steed to the nearest post, proceed to transact the important business of the nation.—Paris Ed. [Irving’s note].
aa
Possibly Abu al-Faraj Ali of Esfahan (897-967), Arabic scholar known for his Kitab al-Aghani, or Book of Songs.
ab
Name given by Dutch colonizers to some of the native peoples of South Africa.
ac
The rank of some Turkish officials was indicated by the number of horsetails tied to their standards.
ad
Muhammad’s journey from his native city of Mecca to Medina in the year 622.
ae
See endnote 4 to Salmagundi.
af
Reference to the American Revolutionary War.
ag
Flood described in the Bible, Genesis 7.
ah
See the Bible, Numbers 22:21-35.
ai
That is, a scholar from France who challenged the historical accuracy of the Bible.
aj
Punishment in which the soles of one’s feet are beaten with a stick.
ak
The sage Mustapha, when he wrote the above paragraph, had probably in his eye the following anecdote, related either by Linkum Fidelius, or Josephus Millerius, vulgarly called Joe