Henry Peacham (1578-c.1644) The Compleat Gentleman ... (London: Richard Thrale, 1661). Rouse.11.16, frontispiece and title page.
The final year of the Christ’s degree course focused on moral philosophy. Mead’s preferred text was Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, but he also favoured a more practical approach to teaching the virtues required of the good life. One of the books Mead recommends to his students with the greatest frequency is Henry Peacham’s The Compleat Gentleman (first published in 1622): a conduct manual which aims to instruct its readers in the proper graces of gentlemanly behaviour.