Fictional Reference
The name appears in a play of Thomas Morton, Speed the Plough (1798), in which one of the characters, Dame Ashfield, continually refers to what her neighbour Mrs. Grundy will say as the criterion of respectability. Mrs. Grundy does not appear on stage in the play, but is the continual object of the boastful Dame Ashfield's envious watchfulness, as is shown in the very first scene:
- Ashfield. Well, Dame, welcome whoam. What news does thee bring vrom market?
- Dame. What news, husband? What I always told you; that Farmer Grundy's wheat brought five shillings a quarter more than ours did.
- Ash. All the better vor he.
- Dame. Ah! the sun seems to shine on purpose for him.
- Ash. Come, come, missus, as thee hast not the grace to thank God for prosperous times, dan't thee grumble when they be unkindly a bit.
- Dame. And I assure you, Dame Grundy's butter was quite the crack of the market.
- Ash. Be quiet, woolye? aleways ding, dinging Dame Grundy into my ears — what will Mrs Grundy zay? What will Mrs Grundy think — Canst thee be quiet, let ur alone, and behave thyzel pratty?
- Dame. Certainly I can — I'll tell thee, Tummas, what she said at church last Sunday.
- Ash. Canst thee tell what parson zaid? Noa — Then I'll tell thee — A' zaid that envy were as foul a weed as grows, and cankers all wholesome plants that be near it — that's what a' zaid.
- Dame. And do you think I envy Mrs Grundy indeed?
Mrs Grundy was eventually so well established in the public imagination that Samuel Butler, in his novel Erewhon, could refer to her in the form of an anagram (as the goddess Ydgrun). As a figure of speech she can be found throughout European literature.
Read more about this topic: Mrs Grundy
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