Glossary

A note on language: Among his many interests, Shaw was an advocate for reforms of English language usage, spelling and punctuation. In our quotations in this guide we use Shaw’s original punctuation, some of which is decidedly non-standard.
Terms appear in the order in which they appear in the text.

Purgatory:

In the Roman Catholic belief system a space or condition in which the soul is housed while it is cleansed of venial sins prior to entrance into heaven.

Praed
When I was your age, young men and women were afraid of each other: there was no good fellowship. Nothing real. Only gallantry copied out of novels, and as vulgar and affected as it could be. Maidenly reserve! gentlemanly chivalry! always saying no when you meant yes! simple purgatory for shy and sincere souls.

Third Wrangler:

Wrangler is the designation bestowed upon those mathematics students at Cambridge who achieved a first-class honours degree (the highest distinction upon graduation). By tying for third wrangler, Vivie earned the distinction of being the third highest ranked student in her graduating class.

Praed
Do you know, I have been in a positive state of excitement about meeting you ever since your magnificent achievements at Cambridge: a thing unheard of in my day. It was perfectly splendid, your tieing with the third wrangler. Just the right place, you know. The first wrangler is always a dreamy, morbid fellow, in whom the thing is pushed to the length of a disease.

₤50, ₤200:

Using the value of the British pound in 1900, ₤50 equals approximately $5,600 USD in 2008. Using the same conversion factors, 200 pounds translates to over $22,000.

Vivie
I said flatly it was not worth my while to face the grind since I was not going in for teaching; but I offered to try for fourth wrangler or thereabouts for ₤50. She closed with me at that, after a little grumbling; and I was better than my bargain. But I wouldnt do it again for that. ₤200 would have been nearer the mark.

Newnham:

Founded in 1871, one of two colleges for women at Cambridge University. The other, Girton, was founded in 1869.

Mathematical Tripos:

So named because of the medieval tradition in which academic examiners would sit on a three-legged stool, “Tripos” is the name of the honours course at Cambridge University.

Phillipa Summers:

An allusion to Phillipa Fawcett, the first woman to score the highest mark on the mathematical tripos, which she did in 1890.

Vivie
Perhaps you dont know how it was. Mrs. Latham, my tutor at Newnham, told my mother that I could distinguish myself in the mathematic tripos if I went for it in earnest. The papers were full just then of Phillipa Summers beating the senior wrangler. You remember about it, of course.

Chambers:

Law offices.

Actuarial calculations and conveyancing

Vivie will work as an actuary, a mathematical analyst who calculates insurance risks and premiums, and as a conveyancer, who oversees the transfer of ownership of property.

Vivie
I shall set up chambers in the City, and work at actuarial calculations and conveyancing.

Chancery Lane:

A street in West London that houses an abundance of legal offices, featured prominently in literary works concerning the English legal system, including Dickens’ Bleak House.

Greenhorn:

A novice, one who is inexperienced.

Vivie
Last May I spent six weeks in London with Honoria Fraser. Mamma thought we were doing a round of sightseeing together; but I was really at Honoria’s chambers in Chancery Lane every day, working away at actuarial calculations for her, and helping as well as a greenhorn could.

Fitzjohn’s Avenue:

A street in Hampstead, a wealthy neighborhood in northwest London.

Praed
But bless my heart and soul, Miss Warren, do you call that discovering art?

Vivie
Wait a bit. That wasnt the beginning. I went up to town on an invitation from some artistic people in Fitzjohn’s Avenue: one of the girls was a Newnham chum. They took me to the National Gallery.

Devilling:

Serving as a lawyer’s assistant.

Vivie
I want nothing but my fare to London to start there to-morrow earning my own living by devilling for Honoria.

Countenance:

Composure.

Mrs. Warren
Just look at him, Praddy: he looks cheerful, dont he? He’s been worrying my life out these three years to have that little girl of mine shewn to him; and now that Ive done it, he’s quite out of countenance.

Roman father:

Reverend Samuel Gardner is part of the Church of England, not the Roman Catholic Church that this reference might insinuate. By referring to Samuel as a “Roman father,” Praed may be joking about the Roman virtues (either the integrity and strictness of Ancient Rome or the celibacy/chastity of Roman catholicism) which Reverend Samuel noticeably lacks.

Praed
What on earth are you doing here?

Frank
Staying with my father.

Praed
The Roman father?

Frank
He’s rector here.

Gov’nor:

Abreviation for governor. Here, used colloquially to refer to an employer, father, or other male in authority.

Flippancy:

Lack of seriousness.

Frank
Do you remember the advice you gave me last July, gov’nor?

Rev. Samuel
Yes, I advised you to conquer your idleness and flippancy, and to work your way into an honorable profession and to live on it and not upon me.

What amounts to a high Cambridge degree

Although Vivie attended Cambridge and received the honor of Third Wrangler, the university did not grant full degrees to women until 1948.

Frank
Well, nobody wants you to marry her. Anyhow, she has what amounts to a high Cambridge degree; and she seems to have as much money as she wants.

Follies:

Foolish acts.

Rev. Samuel
You are taking an ungentlemanly advantage of what I confided to you for your own good, to save you from an error you would have repented all your life long. Take warning by your father’s follies, sir; and dont make them an excuse for your own.

Incorrigible:

Beyond reform.

Frank
Did you ever preach at her the way you preach at me every day?

Rev. Samuel
I leave you, sir. You are incorrigible.

Mrs. Warren
Why, I have a whole album of your letters still: I came across them only the other day.

Rev. Samuel
(Miserably confused). Miss Vavasour, I believe.

Mrs. Warren
(Correcting him quickly in a loud whisper). Tch! Nonsense! Mrs. Warren: dont you see my daughter here?

Make love to:

To flirt with or praise.

(At last [Mrs. Warren] kisses [Freddie], and immediately turns away, out of patience with herself.)

Mrs. Warren
There! I shouldnt have done that. I am wicked. Never mind, my dear: it’s only a motherly kiss. Go and make love to Vivie.

Broomsquires:

Individuals who make and sell brooms from twigs and heather.

Perjury:

The making of false allegations under oath.

Assizes:

A trial session, a judicial inquiry.

Crofts
The gypsies, I suppose?

Rev. Samuel
The broomsquires are far worse.
(Crofts and the Reverend Samuel come in from the garden, the clergyman continuing his conversation as he enters).

Rev. Samuel
The perjury at the Winchester assizes is deplorable.

Tintern Abbey:

12th century Cistertian Abbey immortalized by William Wordsworth in his poem “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.”

Mrs. Warren
Oh, he’s all right: he’s an architect. What an old stick-in-the-mud you are, Sam!

Frank
Yes, it’s all right, gov’nor. He built that place down in Monmouthshire--Tintern Abbey they call it. You must not have heard of it. (He winks with lightning smartness at Mrs Warren and regards his father blandly).

“He either fears his fate too much”…:

Frank misquotes this 17th-century poem by Scottish solder/writer James Graham. The third line actually reads, “That puts it not unto the touch.”

Frank
And as you no doubt intend to hold out other prospects to her, I shall lose no time in placing my case before her. (They stare at him, and he begins to declaim gracefully).

He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch
To gain or lose it all.

Baronet:

Established in 1611, this rank is the lowest of Britain’s inherited titles.

Crofts (continuing)
And a baronet isn’t to be picked up every day.

Pater:

Father (informal), from latin.

Frank
My mother will be delighted to see you. She’s a genuinely intellectual artistic woman; and she sees nobody here from one year’s end to another except the gov’nor; so you can imagine how jolly dull it pans out for her. (To his father). You’re not intellectual or artistic: are you pater?

Mint:

Prior to 1968, the Royal Mint, the official manufacturer of British coinage, was located in London’s East End, a working class area.

Mrs. Warren
D’you know what your gran’mother was?

Vivie
No.

Mrs Warren
No, you dont. I do. She called herself a widow and had a fried-fish shop down by the Mint, and kept herself and four daughters out of it.

Waterloo Bridge:

Originally constructed in 1817, the Waterloo Bridge connects Waterloo (on the south bank of the Thames) with Victoria Embankment. The original was torn down in 1836 and replaced with the existing structure.

Scullery:

A dishwashing room connected to a kitchen.

Temperance restaurant:

A restaurant that does not serve alcohol.

Sovereign:

A gold British coin valued at approximately one pound.

Mrs. Warren
The clergyman got me a situation as scullery maid in a temperance restaurant where they sent out for anything you liked. Then I was waitress; and then I went to the bar at Waterloo station: fourteen hours a day serving drinks and washing glasses for four shillings a week and my board. That was considered a great promotion for me. Well, one cold, wretched night, when I was so tired I could hardly keep myself awake, who should come up for a half of scotch but Lizzie, in a long fur cloak, elegant and comfortable with a lot of sovereigns in her purse.

Winchester:

At the turn of the century, this town, approximately sixty-five miles southwest of London, had a population of nearly 21,000. Winchester is home to a famous cathedral built in the late 1600s.

Mrs. Warren
A very good aunt to have, too. She’s living down at Winchester now, close to the cathedral, one of the most respectable ladies there.

Workhouse:

Beginning in the early 1600s, England established workhouses for the ill and impoverished who were unable to support themselves financially. In 1834, Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act which limited access to the workhouses and caused an emphatic decrease in their quality.

Mrs. Warren
Why am I independent and able to give my daughter a first-rate education, when other women that had just as good opportunities are in the gutter? Because I always knew how to respect myself and control myself. Why is Liz looked up to in a cathedral town? The same reason. Where would we be now if we’d minded the clergyman’s foolishness? Scrubbing floors for one and sixpence a day and nothing to look forward to but the workhouse infirmary.

Impetuous:

Impulsive, rash.

Rev. Samuel
But how are we to get rid of them afterwards?

Frank
There’s no time to think of that now. Here! (He bounds into the house.)

Rev. Samuel
He’s so impetuous. I dont know what to do with him, Mr Praed.

Attitudinizing:

Posing for effect.

Prig:

A fussy person; one who exaggerates propriety.

Frank
This morning I find you attitudinizing sentimentally with your arm round your parent’s waist.

Vivie
(Flushing). Attitudinizing!

Frank
That was how it struck me. First time I ever saw you do a second-rate thing.

Vivie
(Controlling herself). Yes, Frank: there has been a change; but I dont think it a change for the worse. Yesterday I was a little prig.

Frank
And today?

Freemasonry:

A secret brotherhood.

Frank
Viv: theres a freemasonry among thoroughly immoral people that you know nothing of. Youve too much character. Thats the bond between your mother and me: thats why I know her better than youll ever know her.

Imbecility:

Stupidity, absurdity.

Frank
The wise little girl with her silly little boy

Vivie
The dear little boy with his dowdy little girl.

Frank
Ever so peaceful, and relieved from the imbecility of the little boy’s father and the questionableness of the little girl’s—

Matthew Arnold Quotation:

Vivie quotes chapter 8 of Matthew Arnold’s 1873 text, Literature and Dogma.

Vivie
(With biting irony). “A power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness, eh?”

Belgravia:

Belgravia is a wealthy and fashionable district in London, and although the title of Duke of Belgravia is fictitious, it is possible that Shaw was indirectly referring to the Duke of Westminster, who made much of his fortune through the ownership of slum properties.

Archbishop of Canterbury:

The chief bishop of the Church of England and the worldwide figurehead of the Anglican Church.

Ecclesiastical Commissioners:

A group of politicians, judges, and Anglican ministers who managed property and business affairs for the Church of England.

M.P. :

Member of Parliament.

Crofts
Come! you wouldnt refuse the acquaintance of my mother’s cousin the Duke of Belgravia because some of the rents he gets are earned in queer ways. You wouldnt cut the Archbishop of Canterbury, I suppose, because the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have a few publicans and sinners among their tenants. Do you remember your Crofts scholarship at Newnham? Well, that was founded by my brother the M.P. He gets his 22 per cent out of a factory with 600 girls in it, and not one of them getting wages enough to live on.

Magnanimous:

Generous.

Crofts
Oh you neednt be afraid. I’m not going to touch you.

Frank
Ever so magnanimous of you under the circumstances! Thank you!

Primrose Hill:

A hill and surrounding neighborhood in Regent’s Park. Located just northwest of central London.

Richmond:

In 1901, this town, located just a few miles southwest of central London, had a population of over 31,000.

Music Hall:

A popular entertainment in 19th and early 20th century England, these houses featured a variety of performance forms, including songs, comedy, and dances.

Frank
The staff had not left when I arrived. He’s gone to play cricket on Primrose Hill. Why dont you employ a woman and give your sex a chance?

Vivie
What have you come for?

Frank
(Springing off the stool and coming close to her). Viv: lets go and enjoy the Saturday half-holiday somewhere, like the staff. What do you say to Richmond, and then a music hall, and a jolly supper?

Farthing:

Withdrawn from circulation in 1961, this was the smallest unit of British currency and was valued at ¼ a penny.

Vivie
Everything was settled twenty minutes after I arrived here. Honoria has found the business too much for her this year; and she was on the point of sending for me and proposing partnership when I walked in and told her I hadnt a farthing in the world.

Tantamount:

Equivalent.

Frank
(So revolted that he slips off the table for a moment). I very strongly object, Viv, to have my feelings compared to any which the Reverend Samuel is capable of harboring; and I object still more to a comparison of you to your mother. (Resuming his perch). Besides, I dont believe the story. I have taxed my father with it, and obtained from him what I consider tantamount to a denial.

Philistine:

One who expresses ambivalence or hostility to the value of arts and culture.

Frank
Viv is a little Philistine. She is indifferent to my romantic, and insensible to my beauty.

Facer:

An unexpected dilemma.

Praed
What an amazing revelation! I’m extremely disappointed in Crofts: I am indeed.

Frank
I’m not in the least. I feel he’s perfectly accounted for at last. But what a facer for me, Praddy! I cant marry her now.