styled “A World of Words,”—­the basis of all Anglo-Italian dictionaries since published.  He was a good French scholar, as is proved by his translation of Montaigne; and wrote some verses, highly prized by Elizabeth and her successor, James I. Indeed, his general learning and accomplishments recommended him to both courts; and, on the accession of James, he was appointed classical tutor to Prince Henry, and reader of French and Italian to the Royal Consort, Anne of Denmark; he was also a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and Clerk of the Closet to his Majesty; and, finally, it was chiefly through his influence that Samuel Daniel was appointed Gentleman Extraordinary and Groom of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne.

Long prior to this prosperous estate, however, his skill as a linguist had recommended him to the patronage and intimacy of many of the chief nobility of Elizabeth’s court; and at an early period of his life, we find him engaged, as was his friend Daniel, as tutor to some of the most illustrious families,—­such as Pembroke, Dudley, Essex, Southampton, etc.; [4] all which, together with his friendship for Daniel, must needs have brought him into the acquaintance of Edmund Spenser, the friend of Sidney and his relatives.  He was also on the most friendly terms with Gabriel Harvey, and a warm admirer (as his works attest) of the genius of Daniel.  We have thus gathered our dramatis personae, the parties most essentially interested in Spenser’s unlucky passion, into one familiar group.

Of Rose Daniel’s marriage with the “Resolute John Florio” there is no manner of question.  It is recorded by Anthony a Wood in his “Athenae Oxonienses,” acknowledged by Samuel Daniel in the commendatory verses prefixed to Florio’s “World of Words,” and she is affectionately remembered in Florio’s will as his “beloved wife, Rose.” [5] Thus, if not Spenser’s Rosalinde, she was undoubtedly a Rosalinde to John Florio.

We shall now proceed to gather some further particles of evidence, to add their cumulative weight to the mass of slender probabilities with which we are endeavoring to sustain our conjectures.

Spenser’s Rosalinde had at least a smattering of the Italian.  Samuel Daniel was an Italian scholar; for his whole system of versification is founded on that model.  Spenser, too, was well acquainted with the language; for, long before any English version of Tasso’s “Gerusalemme” had appeared, he had translated many passages which occur in the “Faery Queen” from that poem, and—­without any public acknowledgment that we can find trace of—­appropriated them to himself.[6] What more natural than that Rose should have shared her brother’s pleasant study, and, in company with him and Spenser, accepted the tuition of John Florio?