Tempe Restored was a Caroline era masque, written by Aurelian Townshend and designed by Inigo Jones, and performed at Whitehall Palace on Shrove Tuesday, 14 February 1632.
The role of Circe in the masque was filled by a Frenchwoman, identified in the text as "Madame Coniack;" this may have been Elizabeth Coignet, a gentlewoman of the Queen's court.
"[4] In Townshend's version as in the French work, Circe is enraged at the escape of one of her captive lovers, who has run to the Vale of Tempe.
The anti-masque is dominated by a monstrous being called the "Pagoda," a faux-Oriental demon with black wings, long claws, and a bestial countenance.
[6] The Venetian ambassador to the Stuart Court, who witnessed Tempe Restored, described it in a letter as "a sumptuous masque performed with wonderfully rich decorations."
In that edition, Townshend specifies that "the subject and allegory of the masque, with the descriptions and appearances of the scenes," originated with Inigo Jones and not with the author of the verse.
Scholars have speculated that Townshend might well have been unhappy with Jones's primacy in the project, and that this may have been why he generally avoided masque writing for the Court during the remainder of his career.