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Detail: It is now my pleasant duty on behalf  of the Worshipful Master and all the Members of ..........Lodge to make this Presentation to you of a Pair of White Gloves during the Ceremony of Initiation.

You have been constantly referred to as the Candidate which word is derived from the Latin word `candidatus` meaning white from which also is derived the English word `candid` meaning honest and straightforward hence the whiteness of your apparel is meant to symbolise the honesty and straightforward nature of all our work and actions

You were taught something of this when you were Invested with your White Apron by the Senior Warden and although as one progresses in Masonry one`s Apron accumulates extra adornment in various shades of Blue (point one out) Silver (point to one) and even Gold (point out one) nevertheless all our aprons are basically white as indeed are the Gloves which you can see that we are all wearing

At the moment however you are without such a pair so please accept this pair (present them) with the best wishes of the Master and Brethren  of this lodge as our first Gift to our new Brother and put them on whilst I tell you something further of the history and significance of a Presentation of this kind

The first recorded instance of a Presentation of White Gloves to a New Initiate was in the year 1730 when a Brother called John Coustous was Initiated into a London Lodge He was a Jeweller by trade but as young men will he decided to seek his fame and fortune abroad which venture took him to Lisbon the capital city of Portugal However the religious persecution in which those not adhering to the Roman Catholic faith were oppressed and known as the Spanish Inquisition was active at the time It was not confined to Spain but spread throughout the Hiberian  Peninsula which of course embraces Portugal

Coustous was captured tortured and unfortunately under torture revealed numerous Masonic Secrets` including the details of his having been presented with white gloves at his Initiation and not with just one pair but two Because apparently the custom arose in some Lodges of presenting a second pair to the Candidate to enable him to take them home and give then to his Wife or the Lady of his choice to symbolise to her the innocence and honesty of the proceedings in which her husband had been involved Although by reason of his Obligation he was precluded from revealing the details thereof in just the same way as you are because of the Obligation you have recently taken on the Volume of the Sacred law (point to it)

You will henceforth wear these Gloves at all future meetings of the  Lodge save on the two subsequent occasions when you are yourself again a Candidate in the Superior Degrees and in one of these you will learn of a particular instance in Masonic History when the wearing of White Gloves by the Brethren assumed a peculiar significance 

The Presentation of White Gloves tends to be the exception rather than the rule these days and in some Lodges Iying mainly to the North of here where it is still practised the Initiate is told at this stage that whilst he remains an Entered Apprentice he is expected at all meetings to sit in the North East part of the Lodge to symbolise his recent Admission We do not insist on it in this Lodge but it is worth mentioning in case you visit one. which does In most Lodges including this one you may sit in any seat save those occupied by the Lodge Officers those to the immediate right of the Worshipful Master which are traditionally reserved for the Grand and Provincial Officers (point to them) and those to the immediate left of the Worshipful Master which are similarly reserved for the Masters of other Lodges and Past Masters (like myself) who have not yet  attained Provincial Rank 

The Junior Deacon will now be pleased to conduct you to such a seat