5 guineas, and was cheap at the
price. The South Kensington Museum have several specimens, and although
many are very exquisite, there is not one quite so perfect in design nor
in such condition. Other little trifles made in similar style are the
embroidered gauntlets of the buff leather glove worn at the time. These
have become rarer than any other embroideries, as they were not merely
for ornament but for actual wear. Four or five of these gauntlet gloves
are in the South Kensington Collection, but are of a later date than
the "petit point" period.

The use of gloves in England was not very general, we may infer, in the
earlier ages of embroidery. There are certain evidences, however,
showing that the glove was part of the priestly outfit, remains of
gloves having been found on the bones of Thomas a Becket when they were
transferred from the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral to the special shrine
prepared for them; and a crimson leather pair, bearing the sacred
monogram in embroidered gold, are preserved in the New College, Oxford,
belonging to the founder, William of Wykeham, who opened the college in
1386.

It was not until the fourteenth century that the wearing of gloves
became general, and practically nothing remains to show what manner of
hand-covering was worn until the Tudor period. Henry VIII. was
exceptionally lavish and extravagant in the use of handsomely
embroidered gloves, and few of his portraits show him without a
sumptuous glove in one hand. He had gloves for all functions--like a
modern fashionable woman. A pair of hawking gloves belonging to him are
in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and in South Kensington is one of a
pair presented by Henry to his friend and Councillor Sir Anthony Denny.
It is of buff, thin leather, with a white satin gauntlet, embroidered
with blue and red silk in applique work, decorated with seed-pearls and
spangles, and trimmed with gold lace. The Tudor rose, the crown, and the
lion are worked amidst a splendour of gold and pearls.

[Illustration: A STUART GLOVE.

(_S.K.M. Collection._)]

Queen Elizabeth must have inherited her love for gorgeous apparel along
with her strong personality and masterful spirit, as her expenditure for
gloves alone was proverbial. The favourite offering to her was a pair of
gloves, but she was not above accepting shoes, handkerchiefs, laces, and
even gowns from her faithful and admiring subjects. On her visit to
Oxford in 1578 she was presented by