Henry Peacham
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Henry Peacham is the name shared by two English Renaissance writers who were father and son.
The elder Henry Peacham (1546 - 1634) was an English curate, best known for his treatise on rhetoric titled The Garden of Eloquence first published in 1577.
His son, Henry Peacham (1576 - 1643) was a poet and writer, known today primarily for his book, The Compleat Gentleman, first printed in 1622. It is presented as a guidebook on the arts for young men of good birth. In it, he discusses what writers, poets, composers, philosophers, and artists a gentlemen should study in order to become well-educated. Because he mentions a large number of contemporary artistic figures, he is often cited as a primary source in studies of Renaissance artists.
A representative passage from The Compleat Gentleman:
- "For composition, I prefer next Ludovico de Victoria, a most judicious and a sweet composer: after him Orlando di Lasso, a very rare and excellent Author, who lived some forty years since in the court of the Duke of Bavier."
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[edit] References
Peacham, Henry The Garden of Eloquence. Softcover Publisher: Gainesville, Fla., Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints 1954 (facsimile of 1593 edition)
[edit] Further Reading
[edit] The Elder
- Shawn Smith, "Henry Peacham the Elder," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 236: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500-1660, First Series, Detroit: Gale, 2001, pp. 188-201.
- Willard R. Espy, The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary, New York: Dutton, 1983
- Alan R. Young, "Henry Peacham, Author of The Garden of Eloquence (1577): A Biographical Note," Notes and Queries, vol. 24, 1977, pp. 503-507
[edit] The Younger
- John Horden, "Peacham, Henry (b. 1578, d. in or after 1644)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
- Alan R. Young, Henry Peacham, Boston: Twayne, 1979.