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I’m reading this book on dueling that’s really interesting in a number of ways. Here’s one of them.

Certain things were bound to lead to fights, and in particular, being called a liar was at the top of the list of things worth spilling blood over. The below passage from Ludowick Bruskett’s A Discourse of Civill Life (1606) shows such an Old world rhetorical flair, such noble restraint in what we moderns would describe as talking shit and calling somebody a punk bitch.

“I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier’s beard; he sent me word, if I
said his beard was not cut well, he was in the mind it was; this is called
the Retort Courteous. If I send him word again, it was not well cut, he
would send me word that he cut it to please himself; this was called the Quip
Modest. If again it was not well cut, he disabled my judgment; this is
called the Reply Churlish. If again it was not well cut, he would answer I
spake not true; this is called the Reproof Valiant. If again it was not
well cut, he would say, I lie, this is called the Countercheck Quarrelsome.
And so to the Lie Circumstantial and the Lie Direct.”

And then its sabers in the dawn light.