Full Lyrics
CANTATA I
ON ENGLISH BEAUTY
When Beauty’s goddess from the ocean sprung,
Ascending, o’er the waves, she cast a smile
On fair Britannia’s happy isle,
And rais’d her tuneful voice, and thus she sung:
“Hail, Britannia! hail to thee,
Fairest island of the sea!
Thou my favourite land shalt be.
Cyprus, too, shall own my sway,
And dedicate to me its groves;
Yet Venus and her train of Loves
Will with happier Britain stay.
Hail, Britannia! hail to thee,
Fairest island of the sea!
Thou my favourite land shalt be.”
Britannia heard the notes diffusing wide,
And saw the pow’r whom gods and men adore
Approaching nearer with the tide,
And in a rapture loudly cry’d,
“O, welcome! welcome to my shore!”
“Lovely Isle! So richly blest!
Beauty’s palm is thine confest.
Thy daughters all the world outshine,
Nor Venus’ self is so divine.
Lovely Isle! so richly blest!
Beauty’s palm is thine confest.”
