THE FIRST BACHELOR GIRL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 11

THE FIRST BACHELOR GIRL.

AND HOW SHE CAME. The "Bachelor Girl" is usually supposed to bo tho most modem product of niodorn times. She is considered the outcomo of an industrial phase, which was unknown and undreamed of by our grandmothers, and yet a writer in the "Dial" traces her origin back to "Rosalind." "I should liko to make a little study of tho typo of female character which Shakespeare lias made peculiarly his own," ho says; "tho brilliant, intellectual, fearless girl, who is really 'a pure anticipated cognition' of our most recent feminine ideals. Where did ho get his conception? Of course history is strewn over with women of forco and intellect, from Hypatis. to Joan of Arc; and ninny others emerged from mythology and poetry, the Greek and Scandinavian goddesses and heroines, tho Clonnda of Tasso, the Britomart of Spenser. These are satisfactory enough in action, but it was reserved for Shakespeare to make them'speak. Retaining the nobility of character belonging to the scattered historic or mythical women, ho gavo them the gUttering rapier of the tongue, by which they could moro than hold their own against their oppositcs or enemies, the men. "Thero are manv studies of this wisovirgin typo in "Shakespeare—Beatrice, Portia, Isabella, but his best all-round girl is Rosalind. Fearless, witty, truehearted, and brilliant, she is his most dazzling, if not deepest, creation. _ For centuries she has been the favourite of

PRETTY MUSLIN WRAPPER. '

the English-speaking stage. As ITamlet is said to bo actor-proof, so Rosalind plays herself. Many actresses have interpreted her supremely well, but given only the most modest equipment, it would be difficult for any young-jvonjan to, fail-entirely in presenting the part. "For one thing Rosalind dominates her play as completely as Hamlet does his. She is the central fire which lights up all the other pensive and rather shadowy characters. Even in her eclipse at court, the reigning Duke's daughter is only a foil to her, and sho goes into exile like'a torch carricd through the woods. Probably the very best kind of a young woman has a touch of the boy in her. Something more of ltosalind than her attire is virile. Sho seeks adventures liko a Paladin, and though she faints when her affections receive a shock, we feel that she would meet real darger with heroism. But, of course, her supremo gift is that of brilliant speech. It runs through all tho, gamut of which wit is capable—gaiety, mockery, irony, badinage, lmmour, sarcasm. Yet it. is never less than womanly, lady-like. She is tho brilliant forerunner of the bachelor girl of to-day—the bright exemplar whom most women would liko to resemble."