Parnasso in festa his own love life, when, enamoured of the nymph Daphne, he pursued her with lustful intent, but she prayed to the gods to be spared and was transformed into a laurel tree. As if embarrassed by this story, Apollo invites all to join him in drinking in praise of Bacchus. Mars, god of war, leads everyone in a drinking song, and Clio joins in the spirit of things so much that she begins to feel inebriated, much to the amusement of Orpheus' mother, Calliope, muse of epic poetry, and the chorus. The muses sing in turn in praise of Orpheus'
The Saucy Arethusa frigate of the Royal Navy, named "HMS Arethusa", which was originally built in 1757 as a French privateer under the name "Pélerine", renamed "Aréthuse" in early 1758 when purchased for the French Navy, from whom she was captured in 1759. According to Greek mythology, the nymph Arethusa, for whom the ship was named, was transformed by Artemis into a fountain. The song chronicles an engagement in the English Channel on June 17, 1778 between the "Arethusa" and the French frigate, "Belle Poule".. It opens When Sir Henry Wood wrote his "Fantasia on British Sea Songs" in 1905 a version of