That he was rather free. But down he went so quickly, Saying, Tis all up with me,' When he met a lovely mermaid At the bottom of the deep blue sea. Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... She came at once unto him, And gave him her white hand, Saying, 'I have waited long, my dear, To welcome you to land. Go to your ship and tell them, You'll leave them all for me; For you're married to a mermaid At the bottom of the deep blue sea.' Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... The wind was fair, the sails set, The ship was running free; When we all went to the captain bold, And told what we did see. He went unto the ship's side, And loudly bellowed he, 'Be happy as you can, my man, At the bottom of the deep blue sea.' Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves. }} The chorus, from Rule, Britannia!, is sometimes performed as: In this song, "Married to a mermaid" is pronounced as "marry-ed to a mer-may-ed", and "captain" as "cap-i-tain". Some versions replace "broad Atlantic" for "deep Atlantic". Symbolism "Rule, Britannia!" soon developed an independent life of its own, separate from the masque of which it had formed a part. First heard in London in 1745, it achieved instant popularity. It quickly became so well known that Handel quoted it in his Occasional Oratorio in the following year. Handel used the first phrase as part of the Act II soprano aria, "Prophetic visions strike my eye", when the soprano sings it at the words "War shall cease, welcome peace!" The song was seized upon by the Jacobites, who altered Thomson's words to a pro-Jacobite version. According to Armitage "Rule, Britannia" was the most lasting expression of the conception of Britain and the British Empire that emerged in the 1730s, "predicated on a mixture of adulterated mercantilism, nationalistic anxiety and libertarian fervour". He equates the song with Bolingbroke's On the Idea of a Patriot King (1738), also written for the private circle of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in which Bolingbroke had "raised the spectre of permanent standing armies that might be turned against the British people rather than their enemies". Hence British naval power could be equated with