256 



GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



GLOVES 



GILBERT DE CLARE, Earl of Gloucester (1243-95), 

 one of the most influential nobles during the reigns 

 of Henry III. and Edward I. At first he sided 

 with Simon de Montfort, and helped him to gain 

 the battle of Lewes (1264); but, afterwards quar- 

 relling with Simon, he made common cause with 

 Prince Edward and won for him the battle of Eves- 

 ham (1265). (3) THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK, Duke 

 of Gloucester ( 1355-97 ), the voungest son of Edward 

 III., was from 1386 to 1389 "the virtual ruler of the 

 country. He was put to death by Richard IJ. at 

 Calais in 1397, on the plea that he was plotting 

 against the king. (4) HUMPHREY, Duke of Glou- 

 cester (1391-1447), fourth son of Henry IV., acted 

 as protector of the realm during the minority of 

 Henry VI. He was arrested for high-treason on 

 18th February 1447, and five days later found dead 

 in bed. He was a patron of learning, but reckless 

 and foolish in his public conduct. (5) RICHARD, 

 Duke of Gloucester, became King Richard III. 

 (q.v.). (6) HENRY, Duke of Gloucester ( 1639-60), 

 third son of Charles I. (7) WILLIAM, Duke of 

 Gloucester (1689-1700), eldest son of Queen Anne. 

 (8) WILLIAM HENRY (1743-1805), George III.'s 

 brother, created Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh 

 in 1764. (9) His son, WILLIAM FREDERICK ( 1776- 

 1834). 



Gloucestershire, a west midland county of 

 England, lying around the lower course and the 

 estuary of the Severn, and bounded by the counties 

 of Monmouth, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, 

 Oxford, Berks, Wilts, and Somerset. With a 

 maximum length and breadth of 64 by 43 miles, 

 and an area of 1258 sq. m. , it still offers a very 

 irregular outline, though in 1844 some outlying 

 portions were annexed to Wilts, Warwick, and 

 Worcester, and, in like manner, detached pieces of 

 neighbouring counties, but enclosed by Gloucester- 

 shire, were incorporated in that county. There are 

 three well-marked divisions, each with its natural 

 characteristics the Hill, the Vale, and the Forest. 

 The first is formed by the Coteswold Hills (q.v.), 

 whose highest point is Cleeve Hill (1134 feet) ; the 

 second, comprising the Vales of Gloucester and 

 Berkeley, by the low rich meadow-lands lying 

 along the Severn ; and the third, to the west of the 

 Severn, by the Forest of Dean (q.v.). The prin- 

 cipal rivers are the Severn, the Wye, the Upper 

 and Lower Avon, and the Thames, which receives 

 all the waters east of the Coteswolds. The main 

 rocks, proceeding westward, are Oolitic (Cotes- 

 wolds), Liassic, New Red Sandstone, arid Carbon- 

 iferous ; the soil is thin on the hills, but produces 

 good pasturage for sheep, while the lower grounds 

 abound in excellent grass and arable land. Per- 

 manent pasture and corn-crops occupy more than 

 two-thirds of the entire area. Gloucestershire is 

 famous as a dairy country, and raises large numbers 

 of cattle. The well-known double and single 

 Glo'ster cheese is produced in the Vale of Berkeley 

 ( see CHEESE ). The orchards yield great quantities 

 of cider ; and woods and plantations cover 82 sq. m. 

 Building-stone is plentiful ; and there are two 

 rich coal-fields that of Bristol in the SW., and 

 the Forest of Dean in the W. ; but the ironworks 

 are of less importance than formerly. The woollen 

 manufacture is of ancient standing. Glouces- 

 tershire since 1885 contains the parliamentary 

 boroughs of Gloucester and Cheltenham, with part 

 of Bristol, and five parliamentary divisions Mid or 

 Stroud, North or Tewkesbury, East or Cirencester, 

 Forest of Dean, and South or Thornbury. Its 

 county council consists of 80 members. Pop. 

 (1801) 250,723; (1881) 572,433; (1891) 599,974. 

 Gloucestershire has a wealth of antiquities pre- 

 historic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and medieval. The 

 most noticeable of these, as well as the chief events 

 in its history, its industries, and the names of its 



worthies, are noticed under the towns, Tewkesbury, 

 Berkeley, Gloucester, Cirencester, Bristol, Fairford, 

 &c. See Worth's Gloucestershire (1888), and larger 

 works there cited. 



Glover, RICHARD, an English poet, was born 

 in London in 1712, and was educated at Cheam, in 

 Surrey. He was a prosperous merchant in his 

 native city, and sat in parliament for sohie years 

 as member for Weymouth. In 1737 he published 

 Leonidas, an elaborate poem in blank verse, which 

 was increased from nine to twelve books in 1770, 

 and followed by a posthumous sequel, the Atheniad 

 (1788). These poems are not deficient in dignity 

 and elevation of tone, but are turgid and heavy, 

 and are now almost as well forgotten as their 

 author's tragedies, Boadicea (1753) and Medea 

 (1761). His ballad, Admiral Hosier's Ghost, long 

 enjoyed a factitious reputation. Glover was an 

 upright, fearless, and patriotic citizen. He died in 

 1785 ; and in 1813 his diary was published. 



Gloversville, a -city of New York, 53 miles 

 NW. of Albany by rail, with large manufacture of 

 buckskin and other gloves. Pop. (1900) 18,349. 



Glover Tower. See SULPHURIC ACID. 



Gloves. The glove (Anglo-Saxon gldf) which 

 forms the ordinary hand covering is, both from its 

 history and symbolic import, one of the most 

 interesting of all articles of dress. Its use reaches 

 back to a remote antiquity, for we are told in the 

 Odyssey that Laertes, the farmer-king, wore gloves 

 to protect his hands from the thorns. Xenophon 

 also sneers at the Persians for wearing gloves for 

 keeping their hands warm. In their more robust 

 days the Greeks and Romans scorned the use of 

 gloves ; but in later times their use was not 

 unknown in Rome. From time immemorial the 

 glove possessed a legal significance in oriental 

 countries in connection with the transfer of pro- 

 perty, the handing over of the seller's glove to the 

 purchaser being the recognised token of investiture. 

 In this connection it is held by some that the word 

 translated ' shoe ' in Ruth, iv. 7, should more pro- 

 perly read ' glove,' making the passage read : ' Now 

 this was the manner in former time in Israel con- 

 cerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to 

 confirm all things ; a man plucked off his glove and 

 gave it to his neighbour.' In feudal times the 

 challenge to single combat was given by the cast- 

 ing down of the glove ; and an ancient and more 

 pleasing ceremonial still observed consists in the 

 presentation of white gloves to a judge presiding 

 over an assize at which no cases come up for trial. 



The glove appears to have become a well-known 

 article of dress in England about the 14th century, 

 and corporations of glovers were in existence in the 

 15th century. In the days of Queen Elizabeth 

 gloves were made with gauntlets upon which much 

 rich and elaborate embroidery was worked. 



Modern gloves are of two distinct classes : ( 1 ) 

 woven and knitted gloves, and (2) those made 

 of leather ; and the making of these constitute 

 entirely separate branches of manufacture. The 

 manufacture of knitted or woven gloves is an in- 

 dustry allied to the hosiery trade, and the materials 

 comprise all the ordinary fibres, the most important 

 being silk and wool. In some cases these gloves 

 are entirely made and finished by knitting ; but in 

 others, and in the best of such gloves, the pieces 

 are separately fashioned and sewed together as in 

 making leather gloves. The manufacture is wide- 

 spread, but the headquarters of the thread and 

 cloth glove trade are now Berlin and Saxony. The 

 materials used for making leather gloves is prin- 

 cipally the skins of deer, sheep and lambs, goats 

 and kids, the latter being the most important, 

 although far more ' kid ' gloves are made of sheep 

 than of kid leather. The skins for military and 



