Brewer's: Reproof Valiant

(The). Sir, allow me to tell you that is not the truth. To use Touchstone's illustration: “If a courtier tells me my beard is not well cut, and I answer, `That is not true,' I give him the reply valiant, which is the fourth remove from the lie direct, or rather, the lie direct in the fourth degree.”

The reproof valiant, the countercheck quarrelsome, the lie circumstantial, and the lie direct, are not clearly defined by Touchstone. The following, perhaps, will give the distinction required: That is not true; How dare you utter such a falsehood; If you said so, you are a liar; You are a liar, or you lie.

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