James Thomson and ‘Rule, Britannia’

The image of Britannia long pre-dated the eighteenth century, but throughout its history she was often viewed as the victim of outside aggression rather than as the defender of the realm. This chapter demonstrates how Thomson’s refashioning of Britannia, most notably in the masque Alfred, which he and David Mallet wrote for the young Prince Frederick, created an imperial icon that was subsequently used to export a brand of maritime patriotism across Britain’s expanding Empire. Thomson’s Britannia, representing both the Scottish and the English contribution to the British state, celebrates the Anglo-Scottish Union and the impact that this Union had on liberty and commerce. Such was the popularity of Thomson’s vision of Britannia that it inspired repeated imitations, emulations, and parodies, and continues to be a part of the British cultural memory in the twenty-first century.