Richard III

Act 5, Scene 5

Modern spelling. Stage directions omitted.

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RICHMOND

God and your arms be praised, victorious friends!
The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

STANLEY

Courageous Richmond, well acquit !
Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty
From the dead temples of this bloody wretch
Have I plucked off, to grace brows .
Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.

RICHMOND

Great God of heaven, say Amen to all!
But tell me, is young George Stanley living?

STANLEY

He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town,
, if it please you, we may now withdraw us.

RICHMOND

What men of name are slain on either side?

STANLEY

John, Duke of Norfolk, Walter, Lord Ferrers,
Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Brandon.

RICHMOND

Inter their bodies as becomes their births.
Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled
That in submission will return to us.
And then, as we have ta’en the sacrament,
We will unite the white rose and the red.
Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction,
That long have frowned upon their enmity.
What traitor hears me and says not Amen?
England long been mad, and scarred herself:
The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood;
The father rashly slaughtered his own son;
The son, compelled, been butcher to the sire.
All this divided York and Lancaster,
Divided in their dire division.
O, now let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house,
By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together,
And let their heirs, God, if will be so,
Enrich the time to come with smoothed-faced peace,
With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days.
Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord,
That would reduce these bloody days again,
And make poor England weep in streams of blood.
Let them not live to taste this land’s increase,
That would with treason wound this fair land’s peace.
Now civil wounds are stopped, peace lives again.
That she may long live here, God say Amen.

All of Richard III

Act 1

Act 1, Scene 1Act 1, Scene 2Act 1, Scene 3Act 1, Scene 4,

Act 2

Act 2, Scene 1Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 3Act 2, Scene 4,

Act 3

Act 3, Scene 1Act 3, Scene 2Act 3, Scene 3Act 3, Scene 4Act 3, Scene 5Act 3, Scene 6Act 3, Scene 7,

Act 4

Act 4, Scene 1Act 4, Scene 2Act 4, Scene 3Act 4, Scene 4Act 4, Scene 5,

Act 5

Act 5, Scene 1Act 5, Scene 2Act 5, Scene 3Act 5, Scene 4Act 5, Scene 5

Open Richard III in the 1623 First Folio. See its words in the cloud.

Modern spelling for reading. The edition is public domain in the United States. Edition source.