The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-12-25
GLOVES.
How They Were Worn In Europe Centuries
Ago.

TENN OF Degl1HlnS Oh Tue eleN0nbH CEN
fury, and their. manufacture would APP
pear at that period specially German, as
five pairs of gloves made considerable
part of the duty paid to the English
sovereign Ethelred II. (979 to 1916, by
a society of German merchants, for the
protection of their trade in this country,
proof of their great rarity. Their
previous absence is easily accounted for
by the fact that the long sleeves of the
gowns supplied their place by being
brought over the hand, and the cloak or
mantle was made to answer the same
purpose. It is remarkable that no
gloves are visible in the Bayeux tapes
try; not even on the hands of Harold,
who carries a hawk. WAGE, the Nor
man poet, tells a story of Raoul Tais-
son, Lord of Cinguehs, playfully strik-
ing William of Normandy with his glove
previous to the battle of Valesdeur, in
1917; and in 1866 the gloves of Conan,
Duke of Brittany, were poisoned, at the
instigation, it was strongly suspected, of
the INSCRIPTIONS Duke William afore-
said; but it is certainly not before the
thirteenth century that gloves became
generally worn in England. At the
latter part of that century the young
Normans covered their hands with
| gloves too long and wide for doing any,
thing needful The ef1igies of Henry
III. and Richard I. at Fonteyraud display
! gloves with jewels on the back of them;
and when King Johns coffin was
opened in 1897, at Worcester, jeweled
| gloves were found on his hands.
| Jeweled gloves were also worn by the
dignified clergy, and appear to have
been of white silk or linen, and beauti-
| fully embroidered. Those which were
worn by William of Wykeham, and are
still preserved at New College, Oxford,
are of red silk, with the sacred mono
| gram, surrounded by a glory, in gold
on the backs. At what time it became
the custom to change the color of the
gloves according to the color of the vest
ments is not known. Gloves had come
into general use in the fourteenth
| century amongst the better classes, who
were accustomed to carry them in their
hands. 1t is not, however, till the
sixteenth century that we find constant
illusions to and frequent representations
of them in portraits. Gloves were Gus
tomary New-Year's gifts in the six
teenth century, but, being more ex-
pensive than all could afford to pur-
chase, money was given instead, which
was called 'sglove money!
/ The short sleeves of the ladies'
dresses in the reign of Charles H. intro
duced the long kid glove, which has
now, after an interval again become
fashionable. Gloves trimmed with lace
are mentioned by Evelyn in his descrip-
ton of a lady's toilette, and con-
temporary poet mentions:
"Some of chicken-skins for night,
To keep her hands plump, soft and white"
Long gloves are seen in the portrait of
Mary, consort of William Ill, and a
pair of thread gloves occurs in the in
Ventory of lady's wardrobe in 1907.
Many ancient receipts are extant for
the pertaining of gloves, and in an old
French work published at Lyons in 1867
the precise directions for :" CtUette tres
erqatise pour partatnaea- gaaadS ct en- Viaa-
DIRE les mains is given. In these COM
positions musk, ambergris and civet
We're the chief perfumes, and as they
We're applied inside the gloves, combined
with some sort of oil or grease, their use
at the present day would be thought in
tolerable. In the middle of the last
century the gloyers of Paris were also
the chief perfumers, and constituted a
considerable community, having stat
utes and laws dating back as far as
1890. Perfumed skins were imported
from Spain and Italy for the making OF
gloves, and were very expensive and
"fort la naode,'' but their powerful
odor led to their disuse, and Frangipani
and Neroli became the only perfumes in
fashion for gloves. And we may here
remark that Frangipani owes its re-
nown to its inventor, Marquis Frangi-
PAM, member of very ancient and
illustrious family of Rome, and who
was a Marshal in the armies of Louis
Kill What the composition was that
gained for the Marquis so much reputa-
ton is not now known, but all sorts OF
utterly different perfumes are to this day
sold under that name.
/ Gloves were frequently held out in
prominent places in ancient times at
fairs, in token of friendship to all
| corners. In the city of Chester, espe-
cially, that being place famous for the
manufacture of gloves, it was the Gus
tom for some days before and during
the continuance of the fair to bring out
from the Town-hall their localemblem OF
commerce, a glove, there by proclaiming
that non-freemen and strangers were
permitted to trade within the city, a
privilege at all other times enjoyed by
the citizens alone.
A pretty little incident connected with
gloves in ancient times is the circum.
stance that Charles w., King of Spain,
was so much under the influence OF any
lady who wore white kid gloves that
the use of them at court was strictly pro-
hibited. Modern royalty is not so fan
tastical.
In the time of Louis XIV. of France
the ladies at their toilette thought moth
ing of destroying half dozen pairs Of
gloves before they got one pair to fit
They were made of white skins, but or
namented with little ribbons and fnt
rosettes. English-seWn gloves were II
the greatest request, and it used to be {
common saying that for a glove to b.
good three kingdoms must contribute tt
Spain for the leather, France for th'