In 1578 he was still living at Oxford when
he dedicated his _First Fruites_ to the Earl of Leicester, his
dedication being dated "From my lodgings in Worcester Place." In 1580 he
dedicated a translation from the Italian of Ramusio to Edward Bray,
sheriff of Oxford, and two years later dedicated to Sir Edmund Dyer a
MS. collection of Italian proverbs, which is also dated from Oxford on
the 12th of November 1582.

Nothing definite is known concerning Florio between 1582 and 1591; in
the latter year he published his _Second Fruites_, dedicating it to a
recent patron, Mr. Nicholas Saunder of Ewell. Between about 1590 and
1591, and the end of 1598 and possibly later, he continued in the pay
and patronage of the Earl of Southampton, dedicating his _Worlde of
Wordes_ in the latter year "To the Right Honourable Patrons of Virtue,
Patterns of Honour, Roger, Earl of Rutland; Henry, Earl of Southampton;
and Lucy, Countess of Bedford." A new and enlarged edition of this book
containing his portrait was published in 1611. In the medallion
surrounding this picture he gives his age as fifty-eight, which would
date his birth in 1553, the year of Queen Mary's accession. It is
probable that Florio understated his age, as he is said to have received
his early education in France and to have returned to England with his
father upon the accession of Elizabeth in 1558. Anthony Wood gives the
date of his birth as 1545, and though I cannot find his authority am
inclined to believe the earlier date to be correct. Florio was vain
enough to prevaricate on a matter of this nature. In 1603 he published
his chief work, a translation of _The Essaies of Montaigne_. Florio was
attached to the Court of James I. as French and Italian tutor to Prince
Henry and the Queen, and also held the appointment of Gentleman of the
Privy Chamber.

Florio was married on 9th September 1617 to a Rose Spicer, of whom
nothing earlier than the marriage record is known. From the facts that
his daughter Aurelia was already married at the time of his death in
1625, and that in his will he leaves her "the wedding ring wherewith I
married her mother," it is evident that Rose Spicer was his second wife.

Following a suggestion made by the Rev. J.H. Halpin, it is supposed that
his first wife was a Rose Daniel, a sister of Samuel Daniel, the poet,
who was Florio's classfellow at Oxford. In the address to dedicatory
verses by Daniel, prefixed to the 1611 edition of Florio's _Wor