Bryan Goldberg
The fact that Henry Peacham's date of birth and death are both unconfirmed is a testament to the mystery that has shrouded his life. The author was allegedly born around 1576 in Hertfordshire, England, and he graduated from Cambridge University as a young man (www.bartleby.com/65/pe/Peacham.html). Despite a lifetime worth of writings that would eventually make him a well-known author, Henry Peacham may best be remembered for a sketch and excerpt from one of William Shakespeare's earliest works, Titus Andronicus. The document is significant because it brings into question the original publication date of the play. The first known publication of Titus Andronicus is dated 1594, but the play described by a young Peacham appears to be quite different from this early printing. Most notably, the sketched staging is not in concordance with any known scene. In addition, several of the lines that appear in Peacham's excerpt either don't exist in the known version or appear later than the stated Act II Scene 2. Therefore, many of the people who question the accepted history of Shakespeare have used the Peacham document to suggest that the play was written several years before any of the Bard's other early plays, and thus can not be his work. (http://www.dlroper.shakespearians.com/henry_peacham.html) Recently, many of the historians who express interest in his Titus Andronicus sketch have also pointed out alleged Shakespeare hints in the title page of Peacham's emblem book, Minerva Brittana. The page shows a hand protruding from a curtain writing the phrase "Mente, Vide Bori," by the mind shall I be seen. This is an anagram for Tibi Nom. De Vere, a reference to Edward De Vere, a man often mentioned as "the real Shakespeare" (http://www.pe.net/~webrebel/Windmill.htm).
If the Titus Andronicus sketch is Henry Peacham's most significant work amongst historians, then The Complete Gentleman was his greatest achievement amongst contemporaries. According to Peacham the book was about the "most necessary and commendable qualities concerning minde or bodie that may be required in a noble gentleman" (http://www.worldbookdealers.com/press/pr/pr0000000258.asp). At a time when behavior and etiquette were of paramount importance, especially amongst the upper classes, Peacham's book served as a popular "do's and don'ts" rulebook. The guide was especially popular in the New England colonies, and the town of Peacham, Vermont may have been named in honor of his accomplishments (http://www.virtualvermont.com/).