Lingua (play)
Encyclopedia
Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority is an allegorical
stage play of the first decade of the 17th century, generally attributed to the academic playwright Thomas Tomkis
.
on February 23, 1607 (new style
), and was published later that year in a quarto
printed by George Eld
for the bookseller Simon Waterson. The play proved to have unusual long-term popularity for an academic work, and was reprinted in 1610, 1617, 1622, 1632, and 1657. Its use of English rather than the more normal Latin
gave Lingua a wider accessibility to a general audience than academic dramas of its era usually had. In 1613
Lingua was translated into a German version titled Speculum Aestheticum, by Johannes Rhenanus; a Dutch translation followed in 1648
, by Lambert van den Bosch.
common during her reign, and is logical in play written prior to her 1603 death. Other commentators have demurred, however; apparent allusions to Shakespeare's Macbeth
suggest a date closer to the 1607 publication to some critics.
have persuaded scholars that Harington's attribution of Lingua to Tomkis is correct.
; but particular features of his work depend upon more contemporaneous influences, including Spenser's
The Faerie Queene
, Du Bartas' La Sepmaine, and Sir John Davies
's Nosce Teipsum.
played a part in an early production of the play. If this tradition has any validity, it may involve the entertainment that Cromwell's uncle, Sir Oliver Cromwell, provided for King James I
at Hinchinbrook
in late April 1603. If Lingua was staged for the king at that time and place (which is uncertain), the future Protector and regicide, then four years old, may have filled the role of Small Beer in IV,v.
And the rest of the play's figures are similarly, gaudily accoutered.
Such detailed descriptions are often found in the published texts of masque
s from the Stuart
era, but not in play texts. The costumes of Lingua may give a rare indication of the range of costumes used in the plays of the era (though generalizing from one academic play to the popular drama of the London theatres requires caution).
As noted above, the play's plot derives from the story of the Judgement of Paris
: like Eris
among the Olympian gods, Lingua inspires dissension and competition among the five senses by offering a prize for the worthiest of them. She leaves a golden crown and a royal robe in a grove in "Microcosmus", with this inscription:
The five quarrel over who should receive the gifts; they go so far as to prepare for physical combat, though "Communis Sensus", the viceregent of Queen Psyche, forestalls that extremity. Like Paris, he presides over the competition, eventually awarding the crown to Visus and the robe to Tactus; the other three receive consolation prizes of offices under Psyche. Lingua's claim to be the sixth sense is rejected — though with a qualification: it is allowed that woman have six senses, the sixth being "the sense of speaking."
Madame Lingua is not willing to accept this status of being "half a sense." At a celebratory banquet she serves the senses drugged wine, which deranges them; but further disruption is suppressed by the charm of Somnus. Lingua talks in her sleep and confesses her plot; she is imprisoned so that she cannot "wag abroad."
The play features a range of other personifications — Terra, Comedus, Phantastes, Lumen (light), Coelum (the sky), and others — even Tobacco, "the king of Trinidado" who has "conquered all Europe." The classical deities Ceres and Bacchus
also appear.
Mediveal allegory was a dying form in Tomkis's era, though it still appeared on occasion; Phineas Fletcher
's The Purple Island (1633
) is one late example. Tomkis's play has been praised for the excellence of its style; "Tomkis proves himself a master of polished and flexible dialogue...The wit is sparkling and unforced", delivered "with scholarly grace." The play's comedy often provides a burlesque of famous plays of its era, mocking the heroic speeches of The Spanish Tragedy
and offering apparent Shakespearean allusions.
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
stage play of the first decade of the 17th century, generally attributed to the academic playwright Thomas Tomkis
Thomas Tomkis
Thomas Tomkis was an English playwright of the late Elizabethan and the Jacobean eras, and arguably one of the more cryptic figures of English Renaissance drama....
.
Publication
Lingua was entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
on February 23, 1607 (new style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
), and was published later that year in a quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
printed by George Eld
George Eld
George Eld was a London printer of the Jacobean era, who produced important works of English Renaissance drama and literature, including key texts by William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Middleton....
for the bookseller Simon Waterson. The play proved to have unusual long-term popularity for an academic work, and was reprinted in 1610, 1617, 1622, 1632, and 1657. Its use of English rather than the more normal Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
gave Lingua a wider accessibility to a general audience than academic dramas of its era usually had. In 1613
1613 in literature
The year 1613 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*English poet Francis Quarles becomes cupbearer to Princess Elizabeth....
Lingua was translated into a German version titled Speculum Aestheticum, by Johannes Rhenanus; a Dutch translation followed in 1648
1648 in literature
The year 1648 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Richard Lovelace, Royalist poet, is imprisoned for opposition to Parliament.* René Descartes meets Frans Burman, resulting in the Conversation with Burman....
, by Lambert van den Bosch.
Date
The date of the play's stage premier is uncertain. The play's text itself contains a reference to the year 1602: "About the year 1602 many used this skew kind of language" (Act III, scene v). Some scholars have supported this date by noting apparent contemporary references and allusions; the personification of "Queen Psyche" (IV, vii), for example, is the type of complement to Queen ElizabethElizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
common during her reign, and is logical in play written prior to her 1603 death. Other commentators have demurred, however; apparent allusions to Shakespeare's Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
suggest a date closer to the 1607 publication to some critics.
Authorship
The early editions of Lingua were all printed with no attribution of authorship. A manuscript list of books and papers from the hand of Sir John Harington assigns the play to Tomkis; and the play's resemblances with Tomkis's AlbumazarAlbumazar (play)
Albumazar is a Jacobean era play, a comedy written by Thomas Tomkis that was performed and published in 1615.-Productions:The play was specially commissioned by Trinity College, Cambridge to entertain King James I during his 1615 visit to the University...
have persuaded scholars that Harington's attribution of Lingua to Tomkis is correct.
Sources
Tomkis borrowed and adapted his main plot from the classical myth of the Judgement of ParisJudgement of Paris
thumb |right |460px |[[The Judgment of Paris |The Judgment of Paris]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]], ca 1636...
; but particular features of his work depend upon more contemporaneous influences, including Spenser's
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
, Du Bartas' La Sepmaine, and Sir John Davies
John Davies
-Politicians:*John Davies , British businessman and Conservative MP and cabinet minister*John S. Davies , Pennsylvania politician...
's Nosce Teipsum.
Oliver Cromwell?
A reference to Lingua from 1663 states that Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
played a part in an early production of the play. If this tradition has any validity, it may involve the entertainment that Cromwell's uncle, Sir Oliver Cromwell, provided for King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
at Hinchinbrook
Hinchinbrook
Hinchinbrook is the name of several places:* Hinchinbrook, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia* Hinchinbrook Island, an island in tropical north Queensland, Australia...
in late April 1603. If Lingua was staged for the king at that time and place (which is uncertain), the future Protector and regicide, then four years old, may have filled the role of Small Beer in IV,v.
Costumes
The 1607 quarto of Lingua is very unusual in that it provides highly detailed and specific descriptions of the costumes worn by the actors:- Auditus wears "a garland of bays intermingled with red and white roses upon a false hair, a cloth of silver mantle upon a pair of stain bases, wrought sleeves, buskins, gloves, &c."
- Visus, like the other Senses, is also furnished with a garland of bays and red and white roses; he wears "a light coloured taffeta mantle striped with silver, and fringed upon green silk bases, buskins, &c." he also carries a fan of peacock feathers. His companion Colour is "clad in changeable silk, with a rainbow out of a cloud on her head...."
And the rest of the play's figures are similarly, gaudily accoutered.
Such detailed descriptions are often found in the published texts of masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
s from the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
era, but not in play texts. The costumes of Lingua may give a rare indication of the range of costumes used in the plays of the era (though generalizing from one academic play to the popular drama of the London theatres requires caution).
The allegory
As its title and subtitle indicate, the play portrays Lingua, the personification of language, asserting her importance against the traditional personifications of the senses. (Auditus is hearing, Visus is sight; Olfactus, Gustus, and Tactus round out the five.) This allegorical treatment of the five senses reaches far back into the literature and drama of the Middle Ages — though Tomkis departs from the Medieval tradition by depicting the five senses as male rather than female figures. (The change allows Tomkis to cast the play's conflict in an anti-feminist, battle-of-the-sexes context.)As noted above, the play's plot derives from the story of the Judgement of Paris
Judgement of Paris
thumb |right |460px |[[The Judgment of Paris |The Judgment of Paris]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]], ca 1636...
: like Eris
Eris (mythology)
Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona...
among the Olympian gods, Lingua inspires dissension and competition among the five senses by offering a prize for the worthiest of them. She leaves a golden crown and a royal robe in a grove in "Microcosmus", with this inscription:
-
-
- He of the five that proves himself the best,
- Shall have his temples with this coronet blest.
-
The five quarrel over who should receive the gifts; they go so far as to prepare for physical combat, though "Communis Sensus", the viceregent of Queen Psyche, forestalls that extremity. Like Paris, he presides over the competition, eventually awarding the crown to Visus and the robe to Tactus; the other three receive consolation prizes of offices under Psyche. Lingua's claim to be the sixth sense is rejected — though with a qualification: it is allowed that woman have six senses, the sixth being "the sense of speaking."
Madame Lingua is not willing to accept this status of being "half a sense." At a celebratory banquet she serves the senses drugged wine, which deranges them; but further disruption is suppressed by the charm of Somnus. Lingua talks in her sleep and confesses her plot; she is imprisoned so that she cannot "wag abroad."
The play features a range of other personifications — Terra, Comedus, Phantastes, Lumen (light), Coelum (the sky), and others — even Tobacco, "the king of Trinidado" who has "conquered all Europe." The classical deities Ceres and Bacchus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
also appear.
Mediveal allegory was a dying form in Tomkis's era, though it still appeared on occasion; Phineas Fletcher
Phineas Fletcher
Phineas Fletcher was an English poet, elder son of Dr Giles Fletcher, and brother of Giles the younger. He was born at Cranbrook, Kent, and was baptized on 8 April 1582.-Life:...
's The Purple Island (1633
1633 in literature
The year 1633 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*On May 21, Ben Jonson's masque The King's Entertainment at Welbeck is performed....
) is one late example. Tomkis's play has been praised for the excellence of its style; "Tomkis proves himself a master of polished and flexible dialogue...The wit is sparkling and unforced", delivered "with scholarly grace." The play's comedy often provides a burlesque of famous plays of its era, mocking the heroic speeches of The Spanish Tragedy
The Spanish Tragedy
The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy established a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains several violent...
and offering apparent Shakespearean allusions.