[Illustration: GLOVE OF HENRY VI] Xenophon, speaking of the Persians, gives as an instance of their effeminacy "that they not only covered their head and feet, but guarded their hands from cold by thick gloves." Homer, describing Laërtes at work in his garden, represents him with gloves on his hands to protect them from thorns. Pliny the younger, in speaking of his uncle's visit to Vesuvius, states that his secretary sat by ready to write down anything that was remarkable, and had gloves on his hands that the coldness of the weather need not impede his work. Varro, an ancient writer says:--"Olives gathered with the naked hand are preferable to those plucked in gloves;" and Atheneus speaks of a glutton who wore gloves at table so that he might handle the meat while hot and devour more than the others present. That the Anglo-Saxons wore gloves we gather from their being mentioned in an old romance of the seventh century known as the "Poem of Beowulf," and according to the laws of Ethelred the Unready, five pairs of gloves formed part of the duty paid to that Prince by certain German merchants. In Planché's "History of British Costume," an Anglo-Saxon lady appears to be wearing a glove with a separate division for the thumb but without fingers, and exactly resembling an infant's glove of the present day. In 1462 Edward IV. forbade the importation of foreign gloves to England, a law which remained in force till 1826. [Illustration: HAWKING-GLOVE OF HENRY VIII.] In the early Christian Church gloves played an important part. In A.D. 790 Charlemagne granted an unlimited right of hunting to the Abbot and monks of Sithin, so that the skins of the deer they killed could be used in the manufacture of gloves, girdles, and covers of books. In some cases it was commanded that the clergy should wear gloves in administering the Sacrament, and a writer in the "Antiquary" states:--"It was always looked upon as decorous for the laity to take off their gloves in church where ecclesiastics alone might wear them. It was perhaps regarded as a proof of clean hands, for to this day persons sworn in our law courts are compelled to remove their gloves." In the ancient Consecration Service for the Bishops of the Church, a blessing was invoked on the gloves they wore. Those of William of Wykeham preserved at New College, Oxford, are adorned with the sacred monogram in red silk, and ecclesiastical gloves were often lavishly decorated with embroidery and jewels, and were bequeathed by will with other valuables. [Illustration: GLOVE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS]