Editions in Dodsley^{1-4} (1744-1874) and by W. Scott (1810, A. B. D. ii) and J. S. Farmer (1913, S. F. T.).—Dissertation: F. S. Boas, Macbeth and L. (1909, M. L. R. iv. 517). Winstanley (1687) assigned the play to Antony Brewer, but Sir J. Harington, in a memorandum printed by F. J. Furnivall from Addl. MS. 27632 in 7 N. Q. ix. 382, notes 'The combat of Lingua made by Thom. Tomkis of Trinity colledge in Cambridge', and this is rendered plausible by the resemblance of the play to Albumazar. It is clearly of an academic type. As to the date there is less certainty. G. C. Moore Smith (M. L. R. iii. 146) supports 1602 by a theory that a compliment (IV. vii) to Queen Psyche is really meant for Elizabeth, and contains allusions to notable events of her reign. I do not find his interpretations very convincing, although I should not like to say that they are impossible. Fleay, ii. 261, starting from a tradition handed down by the publisher of 1657 that Oliver Cromwell acted in the play, conjectures that the play formed part of Sir Oliver Cromwell's entertainment of James at Hinchinbrook on 27-9 April 1603, and that his four-year-old nephew took the four-line part of Small Beer (IV. v). Either date would fit in with the remark in III. v, 'About the year 1602 many used this skew kind of language'. Boas, however, prefers a date near that of publication, on account of similarities to passages in Macbeth. The play was translated as Speculum Aestheticum for Maurice of Hesse-Cassel in 1613 by Johannes Rhenanus, who probably accompanied Prince Otto to England in 1611; cf. P. Losch, Johannes Rhenanus (1895).
Albumazar. 1615
S. R. 1615, April 28 (Nidd). 'Albumazar a comedie acted before his Maiestie at Cambridg 10^o Martii 1614.' Nicholas Okes (Arber, iii. 566). 1615. Albumazar. A Comedy presented before the Kings Maiestie at Cambridge, the ninth of March, 1614. By the Gentlemen of Trinitie Colledge. Nicholas Okes for Walter Burre. [Prologue.] 1615. Nicholas Okes for Walter Burre. [Another edition with the same t.p.] 1634. . . . Newly revised and corrected by a speciall Hand. Nicholas Okes.
1634. Nicholas Okes.
1668. . . . As it is now Acted at His Highness the Duke of York's Theatre. For Thomas Dring. [Prologue by Dryden.]
Editions in Dodsley^{1-4} (1744-1875) and by W. Scott (1810, A. B. D. ii).
The play is assigned to 'M^r Tomkis, Trinit.' in an account of the royal visit given by S. Pegge from Sir Edward Dering's MS. in Gent. Mag. xxvi. 224, and a bursar's account-book for 1615 has the entry, 'Given M^r. Tomkis for his paines in penning and ordering the Englishe Commedie at our Masters appoyntment, xx^{ll}' (3 N. Q. xii. 155). Chamberlain wrote to Carleton (Birch, i. 304) that 'there was no great matter in it more than one good clown's part'. It is an adaptation of
