John Florio in a woodcut engraving from his 1613 translation of the

Essays

of Michel de Montaigne.

John Florio, whose long life coincided with the literary careers of Sir Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, is best known today for his exuberant English translation of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. To his contemporaries, however, he was familiar primarily as a talented language teacher and an indefatigable compiler of dictionaries and linguistic guides. Ambitious, versatile, hugely industrious and occasionally belligerent, Florio was a conspicuous figure in the London of his day: an English native whose first language was Italian; a dedicated scholar who inspired mockery as well as praise; a man patronized by the rich and powerful who nonetheless died in poverty.

John…

2892 words

Citation: Hamlin, William M.. "John Florio". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 November 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1571, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1571 John Florio 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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