"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by the British Army. Alfred The song was originally the final musical number in Thomas Arne's Alfred, a masque about Alfred the Great, co-written by James Thomson and David Mallet and first performed at Cliveden, the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 1 August 1740. Lyrics This version is taken from The Works of James Thomson by James Thomson, Published 1763, Vol II, p. 191, which includes the entire text of Alfred. "Married to a Mermaid" In 1751 Mallet re-used the text of "Rule, Britannia!", omitting three of the original six stanzas and adding three new ones by Lord Bolingbroke, to form the repeated chorus of a comic song "Married to a Mermaid". This became extremely popular when Mallet produced his masque Britannia at Drury Lane Theatre in 1755. Married to a Mermaid tells the story of a young man, in some versions a sailor or a farmer, who falls overboard from a ship and is married to a mermaid, and later rises from the sea and says goodbye to his comrades and messmates and his ship's captain. It is a traditional sailors' song and regularly performed by choirs, and its lyrics have many versions. A version written, composed and performed by Arthur Lloyd has the lyrics: {{poemquote| 'Twas on the deep Atlantic, Midst Equinoctial gales; This young farmer fell overboard Among the sharks and whales; He disappeared so quickly, So headlong down went he, That he went out of sight Like a streak of light To the bottom of the deep blue sea. Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... We lowered a boat to find him, We thought to see his corse, When up to the top he came with a bang, And sang in a voice so hoarse, 'My comrades and my messmates, Oh, do not weep for me, For I'm 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... He said that as he went down, Great fishes he did see; They seemed to think as he did wink,