Florio

Florio, Giovanni (1552-1662), was born in London, of Italian origin, his father and mother being Waldensian refugees. In 1576 he was at Oxford as tutor to the son of the Bishop of Durham. In 1578 he published his First Fruits, accompanied by a collection of Italian proverbs, and a Perfect Introduction to the Italian and English Tongues. In 1581 he became a member of Magdalen College, and teacher of French and Italian. In 1591 appeared his Second Fruits, with 6,000 proverbs. In 1603 he published a translation of Montaigne's essays; and it has been supposed, though without much apparent ground, that he stood to Shakspeare as the model of Holofernes in Love's Labour's Lost.