Omniana/Volume 2/The Glib
186. The Glib.
Among the many fashions which have been devised of wearing the hair, that of the wild Irish is the most savage. "Their beards and heads, (says Stanihurst[1]) they never wash, cleanse, nor cut, especially their heads; the hair whereof they suffer to grow, saving that some do use to round it, and by reason the same is never kembed, it groweth fast together, and in process of time it matteth so thick and fast together, that it is in stead of a hat, and keepeth the head very warm, and also will bear off a great blow or stroke; and this head of hair they call a glib, and therein they have a great pleasure."
It must however be acknowledged, that to a people who were often in danger having their heads broke, the glib was certainly a convenient fashion, Bulwer[2] was not aware of this when he included it in his invective against what he calls "superfluous crops of hair." "What emolument it can bring, (he says) none can see, unless it be to breed lice and dandro, after the manner of your Irish; who, as they are a nation estranged from any human excellency, scarce acknowledge any other use of their hair than to wipe their hands from the fat and dirt of their meals, and any other filth; for which cause they nourish long felt locks, hanging down to their shoulders, which they are wont to use instead of napkins to wipe their greasy fingers." This expression, long felt locks, well describes what their appearance must have been. They are represented in the prints to the curious Description of Ireland by Derricke, which Walter Scott has inserted in his edition of the Somers Tracts.