- Henry Peacham
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 onrhetoric titled "The Garden of Eloquence " first published in 1577.His son, Henry Peacham (1576 - 1643) was a
poet andwriter , known today primarily for his book, "The Compleat Gentleman ", first printed in 1622. It is presented as aguidebook 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 becomewell-educated . Because he mentions a large number of contemporary artistic figures, he is often cited as a primary source in studies ofRenaissance 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."References
Peacham, Henry "The Garden of Eloquence". Softcover Publisher: Gainesville, Fla., Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints 1954 (facsimile of 1593 edition)
Further reading
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. 503-507The 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.
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