Biondi, John Francis

, was born in Liesena, an island in Dalmatia, in the Gulf of Venice, in 1572, and was introduced by the celebrated sir Henry Wotton, the ambassador there, to the notice of king James I. He was by that prince sent with a secret commission to the duke of Savoy, and was afterwards made a gentleman of the bedchamber, and received the honour of knigfithodct. His elegant “History of the Civil Wars betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster,” which was written in Italian, and translated into English by Henry Carey, earl of Monmouth, gained him great reputation. It should be observed that, like other foreign writers of our English story, he has strangely disfigured the proper names. His history was first printed at Venice, 1637, 3 vols. 4to, and at Bologna in 1647. The English translation appeared in 1641. The subsequent troubles in England prevented him from continuing it as he intended. He also wrote some Italian romances. He married a sister of sir Theodore Mayerne, and went from England to the canton of Berne, where he died in 1644. ²