SHE GOES UPON THE STAGE AS ROSALIND: Mary Darby Robinson
\nb. 27 November 1757? \u2013 d. 26 December 1800<\/p>\n
\u2026 a wandering beauty is a blade out of its scabbard. –John Crowe Ransom, Judith of Bethulia<\/em><\/p>\n Enter Rosalind, with her legs unsheathed The more dangerous. Does wearing breeches Which is his aphrodisiac. For love, Beauty, though a weapon wielded by who wears it, <\/p>\n *** SHE GOES UPON THE STAGE AS ROSALIND: Mary Darby Robinson b. 27 November 1757? \u2013 d. 26 December 1800 \u2026 a wandering beauty is a blade out of its scabbard. You know how dangerous\u2026 –John Crowe Ransom, Judith of Bethulia … Continue reading
\nYou know how dangerous\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n
\nOf their skirts. Every blade in the theatre
\nStands en garde before \u201cGanymede\u201d has breathed
\nA line. Such dangerous games are sweeter<\/p>\n
\nBreach the gates of her virtue? The question
\nProfits the house. The Crown Prince beseeches
\nHer, with ardent letters, to indiscretion\u2014<\/p>\n
\nIt seems, he will risk all. Ah, men have died<\/em>
\n And worms have eaten them, but not for love.<\/em>
\nHe leaves her undone and penniless beside.<\/p>\n
\nProves a guardless sword that wounds her when she bares it.<\/p>\n
\nMary (n\u00e9e Darby) Robinson became famous for her beauty and for her performances at Drury Lane Theatre, particularly in \u201ccross-dressed\u201d roles such as Shakespeare\u2019s Rosalind and Viola. She was mistress for a time to the Prince of Wales, who promised her an annual income in recompense for giving up her profession on the stage\u2014and later reneged. Later in her life, after suffering an illness that left her partially paralyzed, she became known again; this time as a writer of poetry, novels, and essays (including several in defense of the rights of women, such as A Letter to the Women of England on the Injustice of Mental Subordination<\/em>).
\n\u201cMen have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love\u201d is Rosalind’s reply, in her guise as a young man, to Orlando, when he professes that love will be the death of him (As You Like It,<\/em> Act IV Scene i).<\/p>\n
\nMelinda Mueller<\/a> grew up in Montana and Eastern Washington, and has lived in Seattle for 30 years.\u00a0 She majored in botany at the University of Washington, where she also studied poetry with Nelson Bentley. She teaches high school biology, biotechnology and evolution studies at Seattle Academy.\u00a0 Her most recent book, What the Ice Gets<\/em> <\/a>(Van West & Company, 2000) received a Washington State Book Award (2001), and a \u201cNotable Book\u201d award from the American Library Association (2002).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"