KING RICHARD THE THIRD

Act 5 Scene 8

(Alarum. Enter King Richard at one door and Henry Earl of Richmond at another. They fight. Richard is slain. Exit Richmond. Retreat and flourish. Enter Henry Earl of Richmond and Lord Stanley Earl of Derby, with divers other lords and soldiers)
l1l	Henry Earl Of Richmond	 God and your arms be praised, victorious friends!
l2l		The day is ours. The bloody dog is dead.
l3l	Stanley	(bearing the crown)
		 Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee.
l4l		Lo, here this long usurpèd royalty
l5l		From the dead temples of this bloody wretch
l6l		Have I plucked off, to grace thy brows withal.
l7l		Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.
		(He sets the crown on Henry's head)
l8l	King Henry The Seventh	 Great God of heaven, say “Amen” to all.
l9l		But tell me—young George Stanley, is he living?
l10l	Stanley	He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town,
l11l		Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us.
l12l	King Henry The Seventh	What men of name are slain on either side?
l13l	[Stanley]	(reads)
		 John Duke of Norfolk, Robert Brackenbury,
l14l		Walter Lord Ferrers, and Sir William Brandon.
l15l	King Henry The Seventh	Inter their bodies as becomes their births.
l16l		Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled
l17l		That in submission will return to us,
l18l		And then—as we have ta’en the sacrament—
l19l		We will unite the white rose and the red.
l20l		Smile, heaven, upon this fair conjunction,
l21l		That long have frowned upon their enmity.
l22l		What traitor hears me and says not “Amen”?
l23l		England hath long been mad, and scarred herself#
l24l		The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood#
l25l		The father rashly slaughtered his own son#
l26l		The son, compelled, been butcher to the sire#
l27l		All that divided York and Lancaster,
l28l		United in their dire division.
l29l		O now let Richmond and Elizabeth,
l30l		The true succeeders of each royal house,
l31l		By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together,
l32l		And let their heirs—God, if his will be so—
l33l		Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,
l34l		With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days.
l35l		Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord,
l36l		That would reduce these bloody days again
l37l		And make poor England weep forth streams of blood.
l38l		Let them not live to taste this land’s increase,
l39l		That would with treason wound this fair land’s peace.
l40l		Now civil wounds are stopped# peace lives again.
l41l		That she may long live here, God say “Amen”.
		(Flourish. Exeunt)