John Florio's reputation rests primarily on his 1603 translation of Michel de Montaigne's Essais (1572-1580) and his compilation of A World of Words (1598), an Italian-English dictionary. He worked for the French embassy in London; served Queen Anne, the wife of James I, as a Groom of the Privy Chamber; and tutored some of the royal children in Italian. Florio's political connections were extensive and included Cecil, Southampton, Leicester, Rutland, and Bedford. His literary connections included Samuel Daniel, John Eliot, Thomas Nashe, Gabriel Harvey, and William Shakespeare--though not all were favorable to him. His work as a lexicographer and translator places him among the significant contributors to Renaissance English language and literature.

John Florio was born in London in 1553. His early education was at the hands of his father, Michael Angelo Florio. The elder Florio, Italian by birth, was a former Franciscan friar obliged to flee Italy because of his...