[Footnote 586:  Vedas.  The sacred books of the Brahmins.]

[Footnote 587:  AEsop’s Fables.  Fables ascribed to AEsop, a Greek slave who lived in the sixth century before Christ.]

[Footnote 588:  Pilpay, or Bidpai.  Indian sage to whom were ascribed some fables.  From an Arabic translation, these passed into European languages and were used by La Fontaine, the French fabulist.]

[Footnote 589:  Arabian Nights. The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment or A Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Oriental tales, the plan and name of which are very ancient.]

[Footnote 590:  Cid. The Romances of the Cid, the story of the Spanish national hero, mentioned in note on Heroism139:5, was written about the thirteenth century by an unknown author; it supplied much of the material for two Spanish chronicles and Spanish and French tragedies written later on the same subject.]

[Footnote 591:  Iliad.  The poem in which the Greek, poet, Homer, describes the siege and fall of Troy.  Emerson here expresses the view adopted by many scholars that it was the work, not of one, but of many men.]

[Footnote 592:  Robin Hood.  The ballads about Robin Hood, an English outlaw and popular hero of the twelfth century.]

[Footnote 593:  Scottish Minstrelsy. The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, a collection of original and collected poems, published by Sir Walter Scott in 1802.]

[Footnote 594:  Shakespeare Society.  The Shakespeare Society, founded in 1841, was dissolved in 1853.  In 1874 The New Shakespeare Society was founded.]

[Footnote 595:  Mysteries.  See “Kyd, Marlowe, etc.” 531.]

[Footnote 596:  Ferrex and Porrex, or Gorboduc.  The first regular English tragedy, by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, printed in 1565.]

[Footnote 597:  Gammer Gurtor’s Needle.  One of the first English comedies, written by Bishop Still and printed in 1575.]

[Footnote 598:  Whether the boy Shakespeare poached, etc.  For a fuller account of the facts of Shakespeare’s life, of which some traditions and facts are mentioned here, consult some good biography of the poet.]

[Footnote 599:  Queen Elizabeth.  Dining her reign, 1558-1603, the English drama rose and attained its height, and there was produced a prose literature hardly inferior to the poetic.]

[Footnote 600:  King James.  King James VI. of Scotland and I. of England who was Elizabeth’s kinsman and successor; he reigned in England from 1603 to 1625.]

[Footnote 601:  Essexes.  Walter Devereux was a brave English gentleman whom Elizabeth made Earl of Essex in 1572.  His son Robert, the second Earl of Essex, was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth’s.]

[Footnote 602:  Leicester.  The Earl of Leicester, famous in Shakespeare’s time, was Robert Dudley, an English courtier, politician, and general, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth.]