this date had doubts regarding Southampton's
fulfilment of his engagement, other inferences lead me to judge that _it
was not finally disrupted until the spring of 1594_.

We have record that Southampton's name was entered as a student of
Gray's Inn in July 1590,--that is, three months before his arrival in
London,--and may therefore assume that some of his subsequent time in
London was occupied in more or less perfunctory legal studies.

As continental travel and an acquaintance with foreign tongues--at least
Italian and French--had then come to be regarded as a part of a
nobleman's education, Burghley, soon after Southampton's coming to
Court, provided him with a tutor of languages in the person of John
Florio, who thereafter continued in his pay and patronage as late as, if
not later than, 1598. Even after this date Southampton continued to
befriend Florio for many years.

As Florio continued in Southampton's service during the entire Sonnet
period and played an important role in what shall hereafter be developed
as _The Story of the Sonnets_, and as he shall also be shown to have
provided Shakespeare with a model for several important characters in
_The Plays of the Sonnet Period_, a brief consideration of his heredity
and personal characteristics may help us to realise the manner in which
Shakespeare held "the mirror up to nature" in his dramatic
characterisations.

John Florio was born before 1553 and was the son of Michael Angelo
Florio, a Florentine Protestant, who left Italy in the reign of Henry
VIII. to escape the persecution in the Valteline. Florio's father was
pastor to a congregation of his religious compatriots in London for
several years. He was befriended by Archbishop Cranmer, and was
patronised by Sir William Cecil during the reign of Edward VI.; but lost
his church and the patronage of Cecil on account of charges of gross
immorality that were made against him. We are informed by Anthony Wood
that the elder Florio left England upon the accession of Mary, and moved
to the Continent, probably to France, where John Florio received his
early education. The earliest knowledge we have of John Florio in
England is that he lived at Oxford for several years in his youth, and
that, in or about 1576, he became tutor in Italian to a Mr. Barnes, son
of the Bishop of Durham. In 1581, according to Anthony Wood, Florio
matriculated at Magdalen and was teacher and instructor to certain
scholars at the University.