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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct IntroductionScene 2
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“she brought stone jugs and no sealed quarts”
Cultural Context
Act Introduction,
Scene 2
Lines 79-86

An explanation of Sly’s complaint about “stone jugs” in Introduction 2 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Sly

These fifteen years! By my fay, a goodly nap.    
But did I never speak of all that time?    

First Servant

O, yes, my lord, but very idle words.
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,    
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door,    
And rail upon the hostess of the house,    
And say you would present her at the leet,    
Because she brought stone jugs and no sealed quarts.

Tavern owners sometimes scammed their customers by serving bootleg ale from unmarked jugs instead of licensed ale, which came in containers sealed with inspectors’ stamps.