Ale, and Tobacco 13 



IV. Relation of Wine, Beere, and Ale to Certain Cambridge 

 Entertainments 



Apart from its interest as an embodiment in English of the ancient 

 strife of the liquors, Wine, Beere, and Ale possesses a hitherto unob- 

 served significance, arising from its close connection with a little 

 group of debate plays on similar subjects, aU of which we know to 

 have been written for performance at the University of Cambridge. 

 This connection, which I have already barely indicated in a previous 

 article, I wish now to consider in some detail. 



1. Lingua. The earliest of the Cambridge debate plays in ques- 

 tion is Lingua or the Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for 

 Superiority, an elaborate drama composed by Thomas Tomkis of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, author of Albumazar,^^ and published in 

 1607. The precise date of the original production of this piece is 

 uncertain, but there can be no doubt that it was written for academic 

 performance in the early years of the century, and it is probable that 

 it was revived at a somewhat later date. 



There is a general resemblance in the theme and in the nature of 

 the dramatis personae between this play and Wine, Beere, and Ale. 

 Lingua, however, has an elaborate plot, while our piece is little more 

 than a dialogue. The scene in Lingua is Microcosmus, the kingdom 

 of man's mind and body. Lingua, who stands for the faculty of 

 speech, stirs up a dissension among the five senses, by means of which 

 she may prosecute her own claim to be enrolled among their number. 

 To this end she allows them to find a robe and crown inscribed like 

 Paris's apple of discord — "to the most worthy." The senses at once 

 fall to quarrelling and prepare to do battle, Visus and Auditus on the 

 one side, Tactus and Gustus on the other, with Olfactus standing 

 neutral but ready to join the victor. The case is at length submitted 

 to the arbitration of Communis Sensus, who, after the senses have 

 appeared before him in a pageant illustrating the joys that each can 

 give, decides in favor of Visus but consoles the others by awarding 

 them various privileges. Lingua, unlike Tobacco under somewhat 

 similar circumstances, is refused admission to the ranks of the senses, 



^ Tomkis's authorship, which had been conjectured by Fleay on the ground of similarity in style 

 with Albumazar, is proved conclusively by the ascription of the play to Tomkis in a list of plays be- 

 longing to Sir John Harrington, published by Fumivall in Notes and Queries, Ser. 7, DC, 382-3. 



