John Clarke was a seventeenth-century schoolmaster and clergyman who produced several widely used textbooks for schoolboys, as well as homiletic resources for preachers. As a schoolmaster he was chiefly concerned with the teaching of Latin and the fostering of eloquence, as reflected in his Latin grammar book, his collections of phrases and model passages for writing, and his short manuals on letter writing and versification. As a clergyman he was interested in providing instruction and resources for preachers, as reflected in his biblical concordance, his short manuals on composing sermons and praying, and his own published sermons. His grammar-school textbooks and his religious writings are connected by his lifelong interest in communication and the art of persuasion. He did not participate in any of the theoretical debates about rhetoric that were taking place in Europe during the first half of the seventeenth century, nor did he show much...