Gloves at Fairs (Vol. viii., pp. 136. 421.).—This title has changed into a question of the open hand as an emblem of power. In addition to the instances cited by your correspondents, the following may be mentioned.
The Romans used the open hand as a standard.
The Kings of Ulster adopted it as their peculiar cognizance; thence it was transferred to the shield of the baronets created Knights of Ulster by James I.; to many of whose families recent
myths have in consequence attributed bloody deeds to account for the cognizance of the bloody hand. The Holte family of Aston Hall, near this town, affords an instance of such a modern myth, which has, I think, already appeared in "N. & Q." The subject of modern myths would form a very interesting one for your pages.
An open hand occurs on tombs in Lycia. (Fellowes' Lycia, p. 180.)
The Turks and Moors paint an open hand as a specific against the evil eye. (Shaw's Travels in Barbary, p. 243.)
The open hand in red paint is of common occurrence on buffalo robes among the tribes of North America, and is also stamped, apparently by the natural hand dipped in a red colour, on the monuments of Yucatan and Guatemala. (Stephen's Yucatan.)
Eden Warwick.
Birmingham.
Awk (Vol. viii., p. 310.).—H. C. K. asks for instances of the usage of the word awk. He will find one in Richardson's Dictionary, and two of awkly: