| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Song: ‘Hear, ye sullen powers below!’ | | By John Dryden (1631–1700) |
| | | HEAR, 1 ye sullen powers below! | |
| Hear, ye taskers of the dead! | |
| You that boiling cauldrons blow! | |
| You that scum the molten lead! | |
| You that pinch with red-hot tongs! | 5 |
| You that drive the trembling hosts | |
| Of poor ghosts | |
| With your sharpened prongs! | |
| You that thrust them off the brim! | |
| You that plunge them when they swim | 10 |
| Till they drown; | |
| Till they go | |
| On a row | |
| Down, down, down, | |
Ten thousand, thousand, thousand fathoms low—
Chorus. Till they drown, etc. | 15 |
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| Music for a while | |
| Shall your cares beguile: | |
| Wondering how your pains were eased! | |
| And disdaining to be pleased! | |
| Till Alecto free the dead | 20 |
| From their eternal bands; | |
| Till the snakes drop from her head, | |
| And whip from out her hands. | |
| Come away, | |
| Do not stay, | 25 |
| But obey, | |
| While we play, | |
For hell’s broke up, and ghosts have holiday.
Chor. Come away, etc. | |
| Laius! Laius! Laius! | |
| Hear! Hear! Hear! | 30 |
| Tiresias. Hear and appear! | |
| By the Fates that spun thy thread! | |
| Chor. Which are three— | |
| Tir. By the judges of the dead! | |
| Chor. Which are three— | 35 |
| Three times three— | |
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| Tir. By hell’s blue flame! | |
| By the Stygian lake! | |
| And by Demogorgon’s name | |
| At which ghost’s quake! | 40 |
| Hear and appear! | |
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