Mrs Grundy is a figurative name for an extremely conventional or priggish person, a personification of the tyranny of conventional propriety. A tendency to be overly fearful of what others might think is sometimes referred to as grundyism. Mrs Grundy originated as an unseen character in Thomas Morton's 1798 five-act comedy Speed the Plough. References to Mrs Grundy were eventually so well established in the public imagination that in Samuel Butler's 1872 novel Erewhon, the goddess Ydgrun, an anagram for Grundy, dictates social norms. As a figure of speech, "Mrs Grundy" can be found throughout the English-speaking world. Original appearance Curiously for so famous a character, Mrs Grundy never actually appears in the play which introduced her, 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? Although later usage positions her chiefly as a feared dispenser of disapproval, the Mrs Grundy of the play is, in Dame Ashfield's daydreams, not so much a figure of dread as a cowed audience to the accomplishments of the Ashfield family. As the play progresses, Dame Ashfield and her comical musings soon drop from sight to make way for melodrama. Victorian heyday With the Victorian era, its new morality of decency, domesticity,