The first passage I take is from Act IV. Sc. 3.
"_Grumio_. Thou hast fac'd many _things_?
"_Tailor_. I have.
"_Gru._ Face not me: thou hast brav'd many men; brave not me.
I will neither be fac'd nor brav'd."
In this passage there is a play upon the terms "fac'd" and "brav'd."
In the tailor's sense, "things" may be "fac'd" and "men" may be
"brav'd;" and, by means of this play, the tailor is entrapped into an
answer. The imitator, having probably seen the play represented, has
carried away the words, but by transposing them, and with the change
of one expression--"men" for "things"--has lost the spirit: there is
a pun no longer. He might have played upon "brav'd," but there he
does not wait for the tailor's answer; and "fac'd," as he has it, can
be understood but in one sense, and the tailor's admission becomes
meaningless. The passage is as follows:--
"_Saudre_. Dost thou hear, tailor? thou hast brav'd many men;
brave not me. Th'ast fac'd many men.
"_Tailor_.
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