Word: hockets
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...told her his tale" is sure to come out "And he fancy-tickled her tail." Jonathan Swift was an eager catch lyricist, but the biggest tease of all was Henry Purcell, the saintly master of the High Church hymn. After hours, Purcell forsook cantatas in favor of catches and "hockets"-a trick of song in which a voice may boldly interject one word of a verse. In Purcell's Jack, Thou'rt a Toper, the hocket turns his message into "Jack, thou'rt a cuckold...
...audiences seem to become more appreciative of Shakespeare. 'The Taming of the Shrew' seemed to us particularly well adapted to modernizing. The original version, one of the most amusing farces of the Elizabethan stage, contained many 'local gags'. All example is the passage in the induction about 'Marian Hocket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot'. Shakespeare, without a doubt, changed 'Wincot' to the name of whatever town he was playing in, and made 'Marian Hocket' some local character. Thus he heightened the farcical element, and this can be best conveyed to an American audience by making it typically American...
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