Chapter Rosa to Rose of R by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Rosa to Rose

Rosa, a village beauty, patronized by lady Dedlock. She marries Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson.—Dickens: Bleak House (1852).

Rosabelle, the lady’s-maid of lady Geraldine. Rosabelle promised to marry L’Eclair, the orderly of chevalier Florian.—Dimond: The Foundling of the Forest.

Rosalind (i.e. Rose Daniel), the shepherd lass who rejected Colin Clout (the poet Spenser) for Menalcas (John Florio the lexicographer) (1579). Spenser was at the time in his twenty-sixth year. Being rejected by Rosalind, he did not marry till he was nearly 41, and then we are told that Elizabeth was “the name of his mother, queen, and wife” (Sonnet, 74). In the Faërie Queene, “the country lass” (Rosalind) is introduced dancing with the Graces, and the poet says she is worthy to be the fourth (bk. vi. 10, 16). In 1595 appeared the Epithalamion, in which the recent marriage is celebrated.—Spenser: Shepheards Calendar, i., vi. (1579).

N.B.—“Rosalinde” is an anagram for Rose Daniel, evidently a well-educated young lady of the north, and probably the “lady Mirabella” of the Faërie Queene, vi. 7, 8. Spenser calls her “the widow’s daughter of the glen” (ecl.iv.), supposed to be either Burnley or Colne, near Hurstwood, in Yorkshire. Ecl. i. is the plaint of Colin for the loss of Rosalind. Ecl. vi. is a dialogue between Colin and Hobbinol his friend, in which Colin laments, and Hobbinol tries to comfort him. Ecl. xii. is a similar lament to ecl. i. Rose Daniel married John Florio the lexicographer, the “Holofernês” of Shakespeare.

Rosalind, daughter of the banished duke who went to live in the forest of Arden. Rosalind was retained in her uncle’s court as the companion of his daughter Celia; but when the usurper banished her, Celia resolved to be her compani on, and for greater security Rosalind dressed as a boy, and assumed the name of Ganimed, while Celi a dressed as a peasant girl, and assumed the name of Aliena. The two girls went to the forest of Arden, and lodged for a time in a hut; but they had not been long there when Orlando encountered them. Orlando and Rosalind had met before at a wrestling match, and the acquaintance was now renewed; Ganimed resumed her proper apparel, and the two were married with the sanction of the duke.—Shakespeare: As You Like It (1598).

Nor shall the griefs of Lear be alleviated, or the charms and wit of Rosalind be abated by time.—Drake: Shakespeare and His Times, ii. 554 (1817).

Rosaline, the niece of Capulet, with whom Romeo was in love before he saw Juliet. Mercutio calls her “a palehearted wench,” and Romeo says she did not “grace for grace and love for love allow,” like Juliet.—Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (1598).

(Rosaline is frequently mentioned in the first act of the play, but is not one of the dramatis personœ.)

Rosaline, a lady in attendance on the princess of France. A sharp wit was wedded to her will, and “two pitch balls were stuck in her face for eyes.” Rosaline is called “a merry, nimble, stirring spirit.” Biron, a lord in attendance on Ferdinand king of Navarre proposes marriage to her, but she replies—

You must be purged first, your sins are racked…
Therefore if you my favour mean to get,
A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest,
But seek the weary beds of people sick.
   —Shakespeare: Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594).

Rosalura, the airy daughter of Nantolet, beloved by Belleur.—Fletcher: The Wild-goose Chase (1652).

Rosamond (The Fair), Jane Clifford, daughter of Walter lord Clifford. The lady was loved not wisely but too well by Henry II., who kept her for concealment in a labyrinth at Woodstock. Queen Eleanor compelled the frail fair one to swallow poison (1177).

She was the fayre daughter of Walter lord Clifford …Henry made for her a house of wonderfull working, so that no man or woman might come to her. This house was named “Labyrinthus,” and was wrought like