about it, of course.
PRAED [Shakes his head energetically.]\ VIVIE
Well anyhow she did; and nothing would please my mother but that I
should do the same thing. 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 wouldn't do it again for
that. Two hundred pounds would have been nearer the mark. PRAED [Much damped.] Lord bless me! Thats a very practical way of looking at it.
VIVIE
Did you expect to find me an unpractical person?
5. A term unique to Cambridge, denoting distinc-6. Women's college at Cambridge University. tion in the final honors examination (known as the 7. In 1890 Philippa Fawcett was placed above the tripos) leading to a B.A. in mathematics. The per-senior wrangler (although women began taking son who achieved the top mark was the senior examinations in 1882, they were not admitted to wrangler, followed by the junior wrangler and then the university until 1921 and gained full status the third wrangler. only in 1947).
.
MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION, ACT 1 / 1749
PRAED
But surely it's practical to consider not only the work these honors
cost, but also the culture they bring.
VTVIE
Culture! My dear Mr Praed: do you know what the mathematical tripos
means? It means grind, grind, grind for six to eight hours a day at mathe
matics, and nothing but mathematics. I'm supposed to know something
about science; but I know nothing except the mathematics it involves. I can
make calculations for engineers, electricians, insurance companies, and so
on; but I know next to nothing about engineering or electricity or insurance.
I dont even know arithmetic well. Outside mathematics, lawn-tennis, eating,
sleeping, cycling, and walking, I'm a more ignorant barbarian than any
woman could possibly be who hadnt gone in for the tripos. PRAED [Revolted.] What a monstrous, wicked, rascally system! I knew it! I felt at once that it meant destroying all that makes womanhood beautiful.
VIVIE
I dont object to it on that score in the least. I shall turn it to very good account, I assure you.
PRAED
Pooh! In what way?
VTVIE
I shall set up in chambers in the City, and work at actuarial calculations
and conveyancing. Under cover of that I shall do some law, with one eye on
the Stock Exchange all the time. Ive come down here by myself to read law:
not for a holiday, as my mother imagines. I hate holidays.
PRAED
YOU make my blood run cold. Are you to have no romance, no beauty in your life?
VTVIE
I don't care for either, I assure you.
PRAED
You cant mean that.
VIVIE
Oh yes I do. I like working and getting paid for it. When I'm tired of
working, I like a comfortable chair, a cigar, a little whisky, and a novel with
a good detective story in it. PRAED [Rising in a frenzy of repudiation.] I dont believe it. I am an artist; and I cant believe it: I refuse to believe it. It's only that you havnt discovered yet
what a wonderful world art can open up to you.
