eir stays, in which, according to
Steevens, "they carried not only love-letters and love-tokens, but even
their money and materials for needlework."

_Livery._ The phrase "sue my livery," which occurs in the following
speech of Bolingbroke ("Richard II." ii. 3),

"I am denied to sue my livery here,
And yet my letters-patents give me leave;
My father's goods are all distrain'd, and sold,
And these, and all, are all amiss employ'd,"

is thus explained by Malone: "On the death of every person who held by
knight's service, the escheator of the court in which he died summoned a
jury, who inquired what estate he died seized of, and of what age his
next heir was. If he was under age, he became a ward of the king's; but
if he was found to be of full age, he then had a right to sue out a writ
of _ouster le main_, that is, his livery, that the king's hand might be
taken off, and the land delivered to him." York ("Richard II.," ii. 1)
also says:

"If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights,
Call in the letters-patents that he hath
By his attorneys-general to sue
His livery."

_Love-Day._ This denoted a day of amity or reconciliation; an expression
which is used by Saturninus in "Titus Andronicus" (i. 1):

"You are my guest, Lavinia, and your friends.--
This day shall be a love-day, Tamora."

MILITARY LORE. _Fleshment._ This is a military term; a young soldier
being said to _flesh_ his sword the first time he draws blood with it.
In "King Lear" (ii. 2), Oswald relates how Kent

"in the fleshment of this dread exploit,
Drew on me here again,"

upon which passage Singer (vol. ix. p. 377) has this note: "Fleshment,
therefore, is here metaphorically applied to the first act which Kent,
in his new capacity, had performed for his master; and, at the same
time, in a sarcastic sense, as though he had esteemed it an heroic
exploit to trip a man behind, who was actually falling." The phrase
occurs again in "1 Henry IV." (v. 4), where Prince Henry tells his
brother:

"Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou flesh'd
Thy maiden sword."

_Swearing by the Sword._ According to Nares,[985] "the singular mixture
of religious and military fanaticism which arose from the Crusades gave
rise to the custom of taking a solemn oath upon a sword. In a plain,
unenriched sword, the separation between the blade and the hilt was
usually a straight transverse bar, which, suggesti