was imbued with an exaggerated idea of his own
importance, and possessed of most unblushing assurance. In 1591 he
signed his address "To the Reader," prefixed to his _Second Fruites_,
"Resolute John Florio," a prefix which he persisted thereafter in using
in similar addresses in other publications. In 1600 Sir William
Cornwallis (who at that time had seen Florio's translation of
_Montaigne's Essays_ in MS.) writes of him: "Montaigne now speaks good
English. It is done by a fellow less beholding to nature for his fortune
than wit, yet lesser for his face than fortune. The truth is, he looks
more like a good fellow than a wise man, and yet he is wise beyond
either his fortune or education."

Between the year 1598 (when Florio dedicated his _World of Wordes_ to
the Earl of Southampton) and 1603, when Southampton was released from
the Tower upon the accession of James I., we have no record of Florio's
connection with that nobleman. It was undoubtedly due to Southampton's
influence in the new Court that Florio became reader to Queen Anna and
Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to James I. His native vanity and
arrogance blossomed into full bloom in this connection, in which he
seems to have been tolerated as a sort of superior Court jester. The
extravagant and grandiloquent diction of his early dedications read like
commonplace prose when compared with the inflated verbosity of his later
dedications to Queen Anna. In 1613 he issued a new edition of
_Montaigne's Essays_ which he dedicated to the Queen. A comparison of
the flattering sycophancy of this dedication with the quick transition
of his tone in his curt and insolent address "To the Reader" in the same
book will give some idea of the man's shallow bumptiousness.

"TO THE MOST ROYAL AND RENOWNED MAJESTIE OF THE HIGHBORN PRINCESS
ANNA OF DENMARK

By the grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland.
Imperial and Incomparable Majestic. Seeing with me all of me is in
your royal possession, and whatever pieces of mine have hitherto
under the starres passed the public view, come now of right to be
under the predomination of a power that both contains all their
perfections and hath influences of a more sublime nature. I could not
but also take in this part (whereof time had worn out the edition)
which the world had long since had of mine and lay it at your sacred
feet as a memorial of my devoted duty, and to show that where I am I