Oxford.
_Gloves at Fairs._--I think that I have read that at some large fair it was
customary to hang out on the town-hall a large gilt glove, as a token of
freedom from arrest for debt during the period that the fair lasted. Can
any of your correspondents inform me if such was the case, and where? In
Halliwell's _Dictionary_, "hoisting the glove" is said to be practised at
Lammas Fair, in Devonshire: but why? In the east of England certain village
fairs are called _Gants_,--Mattishall Gant, &c. Forby derives this from
A.-S. _gan_, to go; but may it not have some reference to the French
_gants_, gloves?