It has been imagined that gloves are noticed in the 108th Psalm, where the royal prophet declares, he will cast his _shoe_ over Edom; and still farther back, supposing them to be used in the times of the Judges, Ruth iv. 7, where the custom is noticed of a man taking off his _shoe_ and giving it to his neighbour, as a pledge for redeeming or exchanging anything. The word in these two texts, usually translated _shoe_ by the Chaldee paraphrast, in the latter is rendered _glove_. Casaubon is of opinion that _gloves_ were worn by the Chaldeans, from the word here mentioned being explained in the Talmud Lexicon, _the clothing of the hand_. _Xenophon_ gives a clear and distinct account of _gloves_. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, as a proof of their effeminacy, he observes, that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands against the cold with _thick gloves_. _Homer_, describing Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with _gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns_. _Varro_, an ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Romans. In lib. ii. cap. 55, _De Re Rusticâ_, he says, that olives gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with _gloves_. _Athenæus_ speaks of a celebrated glutton who always came to table with _gloves_ on his hands, that he might be able to handle and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company. These authorities show that the ancients were not strangers to the use of _gloves_, though their use was not common. In a hot climate to wear gloves implies a considerable degree of effeminacy. We can more clearly trace the early use of gloves in northern than in southern nations. When the ancient severity of manners declined, the use of _gloves_ prevailed among the Romans; but not without some opposition from the philosophers. _Musonius_, a philosopher, who lived at the close of the first century of Christianity, among other invectives against the corruption of the age, says, _It is shameful that persons in perfect health should clothe their hands and feet with soft and hairy coverings_. Their convenience, however, soon made the use general. _Pliny_ the younger informs us, in his account of his uncle's journey to Vesuvius, that his secretary sat by him ready to write down whatever occurred remarkable; and that he had _gloves_ on his hands, that the coldness of the weather might not impede his business. In the beginning of the ninth century, the use of _gloves_ was become so universal, that even the church thought a regulation in that part of dress necessary. In the reign of _Louis le Debonair_, the council of Aix ordered that the monks should only wear _gloves_ made of sheep-skin. That time has made alterations in the form of this, as in all other apparel, appears from the old pictures and monuments.