In the life of Sir Bernard Gilpin, relative to customs of the Scottish-English borders it is recorded, that in the year 1560, the reverend gentleman observed in one of the churches in which he was preaching, a glove, hung high against the raftered roof. On making inquiries he learned that it was placed there in consequence of a “deadly feud” prevailing in the district, and that the owner had suspended it in defiance, daring to mortal combat anyone who took it down. The last instance of defiance by the glove occurred in 1818 in a wager of battle. The battle, however, never came off; and the instance was the occasion of the repeal of the law permitting the ancient trial by battle and ordeal which existed in England for more than eight centuries. Gifts of gloves at funerals is a relic of ancient times, as was also their presentation at marriage festivals. In Ben Jonson’s play, _The Silent Woman_, we learn that a wedding without this token was suspiciously regarded, and passed for a jest. Cries one of the guests: “We see no ensigns of a wedding here, No character of a bridal! Where be our skarves and _gloves_?” In Italy and Spain the glove was cherished with the most romantic feeling ever accorded it throughout all its long and impressive history. No king of olden days exercised more despotic rule over his feudal dependents than the Spanish and Italian ladies over their “cavaliers,” to whom even to be allowed to touch the fair one’s glove was a favor which sent the aspiring lover into ecstacies. Many a yearning Romeo of that chivalric age must have exclaimed: “Would that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!” Coquetry by the glove seems to have persisted down to a fairly recent period. The _Spectator_ observes that “Ned Courtly presenting Flavia with her glove (which she had dropped on purpose), she received it, and took away his life with a courtesy.” Charles IV. of Spain appears to have been in Ned Courtly’s class, for His Majesty was so extremely susceptible, we are told, to any lady who wore white kid gloves, that the use of them at court was strictly prohibited. A charming picture is called to mind also by the recollection of a novel by William Black, in which the guileless heroine all unconsciously captivates the hero the first time he sets eyes on her, by the graceful, ladylike manner in which she draws on and fastens her gloves.