Available in its entirety for the first time in a half-century, this textbook is the first and only to present, in a complete manner, a general theory of rhetoric in Renaissance England. This examination provides a handbook of the Renaissance theory of composition and shows, with ample illustration from his plays and poems, how Shakespeare used this theory. It is a volume addressed to the wide audience of teachers of English and Renaissance literature, the philologist, the Shakespearean scholar, and students and teachers of all Romance literatures. Its particular contribution is the reorganisation of 200 figures of speech, as distinguished by Renaissance rhetoricians, into a simple, understandable pattern. Through the tripartite filter of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, Shakespeare's true mastery of the English language can finally be grasped. Illuminating and revelatory, this study brings to life the wealth of linguistic resources that would have been at the Bard's fingertips and shows how he used them.