english lexicographer who wrote a world of words
John Florio Florio had many patrons. He says that he lived some years with Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, possibly the young man in Shakespeare's Sonnets, and there is an account of an incident involving Florio at Titchfield Abbey, the Earl's Hampshire home. William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, also befriended him. In his will, Florio left gifts to the Earl of Pembroke, clearly on condition that he looked after his second wife, Rose. His Italian and English dictionary, entitled A World of Words, was published in folio in 1598. After the accession of James I, Florio was named French and Italian tutor to Prince Henry and afterwards became a gentleman of the privy chamber and Clerk of the Closet to the Queen Consort Anne of Denmark, whom he also instructed in languages.
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds The book itself is presented as a series of conversations between a gallant philosopher and a marquise, who walk in the latter's garden at night and gaze at stars. The philosopher explains the heliocentric model and also muses on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Fontenelle's work was not cast polemically against the world views of either the Catholic Church or the Protestant churches, nor did it attract the attention, positive or negative, of theologians or prelates.