Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/344

 dedicated to him his translation of ‘Epictetus.’ After 1620 Florio resided at Fulham, and he died there in August or September 1625. Wood says that he retired to Fulham shortly before his death on account of the plague; but although he owned the lease of a house in Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, Fulham was his ordinary place of residence for at least five years before he died. By his will, dated 20 July 1625, and proved 1 May 1626, he left most of his small property to his wife Rose. A daughter, Aurelia, married to John Molins, a surgeon of Shoe Lane, is mentioned. To the Earl of Pembroke he bequeathed ‘all my Italian, French, and Spanish books, as well printed as unprinted, being in number about 340, viz. my new and perfect Dictionary, as also my ten dialogues in Italian and English and my unbound volume of divers written collections and rhapsodies.’ Florio desired these books and manuscripts to be placed in Pembroke's library, either at Wilton or Baynard's Castle in London, and begged the earl to protect his wife from the molestation of his enemies, and to hand over to her any profit arising from the publication of his manuscripts. His executors were Theophilus Field [q. v.], bishop of Llandaff and afterwards of Hereford, and Richard Cluett, vicar of Fulham. Nothing is certainly known of the fate of Florio's manuscripts. Oldys possessed an autograph of ‘Giardino di Ricreatione,’ which is now in the British Museum (see No. 3 below), and Wood says that Pembroke handed over much manuscript material to Torriano, who edited Florio's Italian-English Dictionary in 1659, adding an English-Italian part. A suit of arms impaling Florio's was granted to his son-in-law Molins on 23 Aug. 1644. The poet Samuel Daniel [q. v.] has been claimed as Florio's brother-in-law, on the ground that in the commendatory verse prefixed by Daniel to the 1613 edition of the Montaigne the translator is addressed as ‘brother,’ whereas in the earlier edition of 1603 Daniel had merely called Florio his friend. But the difference in the designation is amply accounted for by the fact that Florio and Daniel were in 1613 brother-officers in the queen's household. There is no other evidence of a family relationship, and the theory may safely be rejected.

Florio's works are: 1. ‘His First Fruits, which yield familiar speech, merry proverbs, witty sentences, and golden sayings,’ London, 1578, with which is bound up ‘Perfect Induction to the Italian and English Tongues,’ both dedicated to Robert, earl of Leicester. The ‘First Fruits’ consist mainly of simple dialogues in English and Italian. The British Museum has only an imperfect copy. 2. ‘A Short and Briefe Narration of the Two Navigations and Discoueries to the North-weast Partes called New Fraunce. First translated out of French into Italian by that famous learned Man, Geo. Bapt. Ramutius [Ramuzio], and now turned into English by John Florio,’ London, 1580; dedicated to Edmund Bray. 3. ‘Giardino di Ricreatione,’ London (Woodcock), 1591; dedicated to Master Nicholas Saunders of Ewell, esq.—a collection of 6,150 proverbs, all in Italian. A manuscript is in the British Museum with a dedication to Sir Edward Dyer (Addit. MS. 15214). It has been in the possession successively of Oldys, Isaac Heard, and B. H. Bright. 4. ‘Florio's Second Frutes to be gathered of twelve Trees of diuers but delightsome tastes to the tongues of Italian and English men. To which is annexed his Garden of Recreation, yielding 6,000 Italian proverbs,’ London (Thomas Woodcock), 1591; dedicated to Nicholas Saunders. This work consists mainly of Italian and English dialogues, with a reprint of No. 3. 5. ‘A Worlde of Wordes: a most copious and exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, collected by John Florio,’ London (for E. Blount), 1598 [see dedication noticed above]; sonnets by Il Candido, i.e. Gwynne, and verses by B. B. are affixed. A list of seventy-six books consulted by the compiler is given. In 1611 the dictionary was reissued as ‘Queen Anna's New World of Words, or Dictionarie of the Italian and English Tongues, collected and newly much augmented by Iohn Florio,’ London (for E. Blount and W. Barret). An Italian dedication to the queen is followed by an English address by the author, an Italian poem by Alberico Gentili, an Italian and English sonnet by Il Candido, and English verses by Samuel Daniel, James Mabbe, and John Thorys. ‘Necessary Rules and Short Observations for the True Pronouncing and Speedie Learning of the Italian, collected for Queen Anne,’ forms an appendix of 73 pages. A third edition, ‘Vocabolario Italiano et Inglese,’ revised by Gio. Torriano, appeared in 1659, together with an English-Italian part, apparently prepared from Florio's manuscripts. A fourth edition in 1688, further revised by J. Davis, M.D., was dedicated to Maria d'Este, queen of England. 6. ‘The Essayes on Morall, Politike, and Millitarie Discourses of Lo. Michaell de Montaigne. First written by him in French, and now done into English,’ London (for E. Blount), 1603 [for dedication see above]. There are prefatory verses by Il Candido and Daniel. The second edition, dated 1613, is dedicated to Queen Anne, and is declared to be translated from the last French edition. A reprint