  “’Tis as I should entreat you, wear your glove.” —Othello. The first pair of gloves of which we have any record was the covering of skins which Jacob wore upon his hands to deceive his blind father, and it is a singular fact, that these hand-coverings, then used for deception and treachery, came in time to be a pledge of faith, a token of fidelity all over the world. The glove is unique in its universal use to symbolize good faith, from the Oriental custom of giving the purchaser a glove at the transfer of property, to its use as a love favor and a challenge. Some authorities say that the use of gloves as a protection to the hands was known to the cave-dwellers. However this may be, it certainly was to the Romans and Greeks. In the Norman period we find gloves worn only by men, and even then they were considered the appendages of the rich and great. They were an important factor on all ceremonial occasions, and were consequently very ornate and of rare material and workmanship, and many of them decorated with precious stones. The gloves of bishops were of silk and linen, richly embroidered, and those of monarchs were white with broad, pointed cuff. The presentation of the royal gloves at the coronation ceremony is a custom which still prevails, for in the records of Victoria’s coronation is the Duke of Norfolk’s petition to present the Queen’s coronation gloves. While we of to-day use gloves only as a protection and an ornament, in the intervening centuries they had a significance aside from this. Churchmen wore gloves as a sign of purity; judges, as a token of the integrity of their office; men pledged their honor by their gloves; and perhaps we may be pardoned for saying that this custom still survives with us, since our gloves are sold “on honor.” A Walking Glove. Gentleman’s Walking Glove. English Cape Leather Riding and Coaching Glove. |
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