Henry Peacham (born 1546)

For his son (both were English Renaissance writers), see Henry Peacham (born 1578).

Henry Peacham (1546–1634), sometimes called Henry Peacham the Elder, was an English clergyman, best known for his treatise on rhetoric entitled The Garden of Eloquence.

The Worth of a Peny, Henry Peacham the Elder

Peacham was ordained in 1574 and appointed as curate of North Mymms, Herts.^[1] It was during his time at North Mymms that he published The Garden of Eloquence in 1577 and had a son Henry Peacham the Younger, who also became an author.^[2] In 1578 he became rector of Leverton-in-Holland, in Lincolnshire.^[1]

C. S. Lewis described The Garden of Eloquence as 'probably the best' of the Elizabethan books on rhetoric.^[3]

Further reading

• 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

Notes

1. Enos, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition. p. 494.
2. Peacham, Henry (the Younger), Minerva Brittana (London, 1612), p. 170, emblem "Zelus in Dream"
3. Lewis, C.S. (1954). English Literature in the Sixteenth Century. OUP. p. 294.

References

• Peacham, Henry (1954) [1593]. The Garden of Eloquence. Gainesville, Fla.: Softcover: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints. p. 280. Archived from the original on 1 December 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2010.

External links

• Henry Peacham, The Garden of Eloquence (at silva rhetoricae – A guide to rhetoric, by Dr. Gideon Burton, Brigham Young University).