Come away, come away, Death
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath,
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white stuck all with yew, O prepare it!
My part of death no one so true did share it.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet
On my black coffin let there be strewn:
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown
A thousand thousand sighs to save, lay me O where
Sad true lover never kind my grave, to weep there!
Viola did not fail to mark the words of the old song which in such true
simplicity described the pangs of unrequited love, and she bore
testimony in her countenance of feeling what the song expressed. Her
sad looks were observed by Orsino, who said to her: 'My life upon it,
Cesario, though you are so young, your eye has looked upon some face
that it loves: has it not, boy?' 'A little, with your leave,' replied
Viola. 'And what kind of woman, and of what age is she?' said Orsino.
'Of your age and of your complexion, my lord,' said Viola; which made
the duke smile to hear this fair young boy loved a woman so much older
than himself, and of a man's dark complexion; but Viola secretly meant
Orsino, and not a woman like him.
When Viola made her second visit to Olivia, she found no difficulty in
gaining access to her. Servants soon discover when their ladies delight
to converse with handsome young messengers; and the instant Viola
arrived, the gates were thrown wide open, and the duke's page was shown
into Olivia's apartment with great respect; and when Viola told Olivia
that she was come once more to plead in her lord's behalf, this lady
said: 'I desired you never to speak of him again; but if you would
undertake another suit, I had rather hear you solicit, than music from
the spheres.' This was pretty plain speaking, but Olivia soon explained
herself still more plainly, and openly confessed her love; and when she
saw displeasure with perplexity expressed in Viola's face, she said: 'O
what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of his
lip! Cesario, by the roses of the spring, by maidhood, honour, and by
truth, I love you so, that, in spite of your pride, I have neither wit
nor reason to conceal my passion.' But in vain the lady wooed; Viola
hastened from her presence, threatening never more to come to plead
Orsino's love; and all the reply she made to Olivia's fond solicitation
was, a declaration of a resolution Never to love any woman.
No sooner had Viola left the lady than a claim was made upon her
valour. A gentleman, a rejected suitor of Olivia, who had learned how
that lady had favoured the duke's messenger, challenged him to fight a
duel. What should poor Viola do, who, though she carried a manlike
outside, had a true woman's heart, and feared to look on her own sword?
When she saw her formidable rival advancing towards her with his sword
drawn, she began to think of confessing that she was a woman; but she
was relieved at once from her terror, and the shame of such a
discovery, by a stranger that was passing by, who made up to them, and
as if he had been long known to her, and were her dearest friend, said
to her opponent: 'If this young gentleman has done offence, I will take
the fault on me; and if you offend him, I will for his sake defy you.'
Before Viola had time to thank him for his protection, or to inquire
the reason of his kind interference, her new friend met with an enemy
where his bravery was of no use to him; for the officers of justice
coming up in that instant, apprehended the stranger in the duke's name,
to answer for an offence he had committed some years before: and he
said to Viola: 'This comes with seeking you': and then he asked her for
a purse, saying: 'Now my necessity makes me ask for my purse, and it
grieves me much more for what I cannot do for you, than for what
befalls myself. You stand amazed, but be of comfort.' His words did
indeed amaze Viola, and she protested she knew him not, nor had ever
received a purse from him; but for the kindness he had just shown her,
she offered him a small sum of money, being nearly the whole she
possessed. And now the stranger spoke severe things, charging her with
ingratitude and unkindness. He said: 'This youth, whom you see here, I
snatched from the jaws of death, and for his sake alone I came to
Illyria, and have fallen into this danger.' But the officers cared
little for hearkening to the complaints of their prisoner, and they
hurried him off, saying: 'What is that to us?' And as he was carried
away, he called Viola by the name of Sebastian, reproaching the
supposed Sebastian for disowning his friend, as long as he was within
hearing. When Viola heard herself called Sebastian, though the stranger
was taken away too hastily for her to ask an explanation, she
conjectured that this seeming mystery might arise from her being
mistaken for her brother; and she began to cherish hopes that it was
her brother whose life this man said he had preserved. And so indeed it
was. The stranger, whose name was Antonio, was a sea-captain. He had
taken Sebastian up into his ship, when, almost exhausted with fatigue,
he was floating on the mast to which he had fastened himself in the
storm. Antonio conceived such a friendship for Sebastian, that he
resolved to accompany him whithersoever he went; and when the youth
expressed a curiosity to visit Orsino's court, Antonio, rather than
part from him, came to Illyria, though he knew, if his person should be
known there, his life would be in danger, because in a sea-fight he had
once dangerously wounded the duke Orsino's nephew. This was the offence
for which he was now made a prisoner.
Antonio and Sebastian had landed together but a few hours before
Antonio met Viola. He had given his purse to Sebastian, desiring him to
use it freely if he saw anything he wished to purchase, telling him he
would wait at the inn, while Sebastian went to view the town; but
Sebastian not returning at the time appointed, Antonio had ventured out
to look for him, and Viola being dressed the same, and in face so
exactly resembling her brother, Antonio drew his sword (as he thought)
in defence of the youth he had saved, and when Sebastian (as he
supposed) disowned him, and denied him his own purse, no wonder he
accused him of ingratitude.
Viola, when Antonio was gone, fearing a second invitation to fight,
slunk home as fast as she could. She had not been long gone, when her
adversary thought he saw her return; but it was her brother Sebastian,
who happened to arrive at this place, and he said: 'Now, sir, have I
met with you again? There's for you'; and struck him a blow. Sebastian
was no coward; he returned the blow with interest, and drew his sword.
A lady now put a stop to this duel, for Olivia came out of the house,
and she too mistaking Sebastian for Cesario, invited him to come into
her house, expressing much sorrow at the rude attack he had met with.
Though Sebastian was as much surprised at the courtesy of this lady as
at the rudeness of his unknown foe, yet he went very willingly into the
house, and Olivia was delighted to find Cesario (as she thought him)
become more sensible of her attentions; for though their features were
exactly the same, there was none of the contempt and anger to be seen
in his face, which she had complained of when she told her love to
Cesario.
Sebastian did not at all object to the fondness the lady lavished on
him. He seemed to take it in very good part, yet he wondered how it had
come to pass, and he was rather inclined to think Olivia was not in her
right senses; but perceiving that she was mistress of a fine house, and
that she ordered her affairs and seemed to govern her family
discreetly, and that in all but her sudden love for him she appeared in
the full possession of her reason, he well approved of the courtship;
and Olivia finding Cesario in this good humour, and fearing he might
change his mind, proposed that, as she had a priest in the house, they
should be instantly married. Sebastian assented to this proposal; and
when the marriage ceremony was over, he left his lady for a short time
intending to go and tell his friend Antonio the good fortune that he
had met with. In the meantime Orsino came to visit Olivia: and at the
moment he arrived before Olivia's house, the officers of justice
brought their prisoner, Antonio, before the duke. Viola was with
Orsino, her master; and when Antonio saw Viola, whom he still imagined
to be Sebastian, he told the duke in what manner he had rescued this
youth from the perils of the sea; and after fully relating all the
kindness he had really shown to Sebastian, he ended his complaint with
saying, that for three months, both day and night, this ungrateful
youth had been with him. But now the lady Olivia coming forth from her
house, the duke could no longer attend to Antonio's story; and he said:
'Here comes the countess: now Heaven walks on earth! but for thee,
fellow, thy words are madness. Three months has this youth attended on
me': and then he ordered Antonio to be taken aside. But Orsino's
heavenly countess soon gave the duke cause to accuse Cesario as much of
ingratitude as Antonio had done, for all the words he could hear Olivia
speak were words of kindness to Cesario: and when he found his page had
obtained this high place in Olivia's favour, he threatened him with all
the terrors of his just revenge; and as he was going to depart, he
called Viola to follow him, saying: 'Come, boy, with me. My thoughts
are ripe for mischief.' Though it seemed in his jealous rage he was
going to doom Viola to instant death, yet her love made her no longer a
coward, and she said she would most joyfully suffer death to give her
master ease. But Olivia would not so lose her husband, and she cried:
'Where goes my Cesario?' Viola replied: 'After him I love more than my
life.' Olivia, however, prevented their departure by loudly proclaiming
that Cesario was her husband, and sent for the priest, who declared
that not two hours had passed since he had married the lady Olivia to
this young man. In vain Viola protested she was not married to Olivia;
the evidence of that lady and the priest made Orsino believe that his
page had robbed him of the treasure he prized above his life. But
thinking that it was past recall, he was bidding farewell to his
faithless mistress, and the young dissemisler, her husband, as he
called Viola, warning her never to come in his sight again, when (as it
seemed to them) a miracle appeared! for another Cesario entered, and
addressed Olivia as his wife. This new Cesario was Sebastian, the real
husband of Olivia; and when their wonder had a little ceased at seeing
two persons with the same face the same voice, and the same habit, the
brother and sister began to question each other; for Viola could scarce
be persuaded that her brother was living, and Sebastian knew not how to
account for the sister he supposed drowned being found in the habit of
a young man. But Viola presently acknowledged that she was indeed
Viola, and his sister, under that disguise.
When all the errors were cleared up which the extreme likeness between
this twin brother and sister had occasioned, they laughed at the lady
Olivia for the pleasant mistake she had made in falling in love with a
woman; and Olivia showed no dislike to her exchange, when she found she
had wedded the brother instead of the sister.
The hopes of Orsino were for ever at an end by this marriage of Olivia,
and with his hopes, all his fruitless love seemed to vanish away, and
all his thoughts were fixed on the event of his favourite, young
Cesario, being changed into a fair lady. He viewed Viola with great
attention, and he remembered how very handsome he had always thought
Cesario was, and he concluded she would look very beautiful in a
woman's attire; and then he remembered how often she had said she loved
him, which at the time seemed only the dutiful expressions of a
faithful page; but now he guessed that something more was meant, for
many of her pretty sayings, which were like riddles to him, came now
into his mind, and he no sooner remembered all these things than he
resolved to make Viola his wife; and he said to her (he still could not
help calling her Cesario and boy): 'Boy, you have said to me a thousand
times that you should never love a woman like to me, and for the
faithful service you have done for me so much beneath your soft and
tender breeding, and since you have called me master so long, you shall
now be your master's mistress, and Orsino's true duchess.'
Olivia, perceiving Orsino was making over that heart, which she had so
ungraciously rejected, to Viola, invited them to enter her house, and
offered the assistance of the good priest, who had married her to
Sebastian in the morning, to perform the same ceremony in the remaining
part of the day for Orsino and Viola. Thus the twin brother and sister
were both wedded on the same day: the storm and shipwreck, which had
separated them, being the means of bringing to pass their high and
mighty fortunes. Viola was the wife of Orsino, the duke of Illyria, and
Sebastian the husband of the rich and noble countess, the lady Olivia.