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ACT III

No. 23: FINALE


Cannonade off.

SOPRANOS. TENORS & BASSES
    Hark!    
Hark!
  Hark! the cannon!    
Hark! the cannon!
  Where to hide us?    
  Hark! again the trumpet's call!   Hark! again the trumpet's call!
  Friend   Friend afar and foe beside us,
    afar and foe beside us,   Death confronts us one and all!
  Friend afar and foe beside us,   Death confronts
  Death confronts us one and all!     us one and all!

Cannonade.

The door is broken open. Enter MANNERS, attended by OSWALD and others.
Re-enter SIR GEORGE and LADY VERNON.

MANNERS.
  God save the King!
These from his hand I bring! (Gives a warrant to SIR GEORGE.)
    Time there was, Sir Knight, thou spurned me from thy gate;
For my revenge I had not long to wait.
  Thee, in King Charles's name, I re-instal
The lord of Haddon and of Haddon's Hall.

CHORUS. God save the King!
God save the King!
LADY VERNON. But who art thou that bring
  Tidings so glad?
SIR GEORGE. Thy name?
MANNERS. John Manners.
SIR GEORGE. Rutland's son?
MANNERS. The same.
SIR GEORGE. Thou hast done this for me?
MANNERS. For one who bore thy name.

MANNERS goes up and throws open the doors.
Enter DOROTHY, whom he leads down the steps to SIR GEORGE and LADY VERNON.

CHORUS.
  Lo! our mistress! Haddon's pride!
Home the bridegroom brings his bride!
     
MANNERS.
  Another gift, Sir Knight, I bring,
With favours from our greater king
    Who rules beyond the grave.
  To thee I now present my bride.
A lover, I thy wrath defied;
    A son, thy grace I crave.
     
DOROTHY. (kneeling at SIR GEORGE's feet)
  Oh, father, wilt thou not forgive me now?
SIR GEORGE.
  Arise, beloved! Thou hast kept thy vow.
LADY VERNON.
  And all things yield to such a love as thine.
DOROTHY.
  Oh, praise me not; the merit is not mine.
     
  Love breathed a message through the sphere!
    I could not but obey;
  To all who have the ears to hear
    Love breathes it every day.
  Now, in the babbling of the brook,
    It murmurs to our souls;
  Now, through the lightning's fiery fork
    Reverberant it rolls.
  It echoes through the solemn night,
    It rings all nature through;
  For ever, in the angels' sight
    To thine own heart be true!
DOROTHY, LADY VERNON, MANNERS,
                                                     and SIR GEORGE.
      Though storms uprise
And cloud the skies,
    And thorns where roses grew,
      Come sun, come snow,
Come weal, come woe,
    To thine own heart be true!
ALL.
      Though storms uprise
And cloud the skies,
    And thorns where roses grew,
      Come sun, come snow,
Come weal, come woe,
    To thine own heart be true!

CURTAIN

End of Opera

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