The ordinary method of perfuming the glove was to mix the substance or odor with oil, and rub it into the glove, or else to prepare a pomatum and smear it over the inner surface of the glove. Spain had now become famous for her embroidered and perfumed gloves, and thus the preference was shown for those of Spanish make, the fragrance of which was of a very enduring character.
This love of luxury and ultra-refinement now reached an extreme pitch. As Shakespeare says: “The very winds were love-sick with perfume.” Into their bath the fair ladies threw musk, amber, aloes, myrrh, cedar leaves, lavender, mint, and other fragrant herbs and spices—everything was made to give forth an aromatic fragrance—an unbridled luxury that bid fair to outdo the fair dames of Rome.
The use of perfumed gloves has never wholly died out. In France, and even in America, Russia leather gloves are worn to this day, for the sake of their aromatic quality.
A Semi-Dress Glove.
Two-Clasp or Four-Button.
Suéde or Glacé Kid.
$1.00 to $2.00.
Something About Gauntlets.
The use of the glove as a challenge, carries us back to the chivalrous days of the armoured knights and ladies fair: the blare of trumpets, the neighing of steeds, the ring of steel as the gauntlet is flung into the lists, and the hush as it is taken up; the lance in rest, the clash of conflict—all, happily, but the romantic picture of the past.