CLARKE, William (1696-1771), a learned divine, was born at Hagmon Abbey, Shropshire. He was elected fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, in 1716; and in 1724 was presented by Archbishop Wake to the rectory of Buxted in Sussex. In 1738 he was made prebendary and residentiary of the cathedral church at Chichester. Some years before this he had become known by a preface to Dr Wotton's Leges Walliæ Ecclesiasticæ et Civiles Hocli Boni, et aliorum, Walliæ Principum; and he was probably the author of a Discourse on the Commerce of the Romans, which was highly extolled by Dr Taylor in his Elements of the Civil Law, and is reprinted in Bowyer's Miscellaneous Tracts. But Mr Clarke's chief work was, The Connexion of the Roman, Saxon, and English Coins, &c., 4to, 1767; and its appearance was owing to the then recent discovery of the old Saxon pound. It was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle; and in its composition Clarke was chiefly indebted to Bowyer, who took upon him all the care of the publication, drew up several of the notes, and wrote part of the dissertation on the Roman sesterce. Mr Clarke was afterwards promoted to the chancellorship of the church of Chichester, and the vicarage of Amport. In Nichols's Anecdotes of Bowyer there are several letters and extracts of letters written to that learned printer by Mr Clarke, which place his character in a favourable light.