=Florence=, Mrs. Spenser Smith, daughter of Baron Herbert, the Austrian ambassador in England. She was born at Constantinople, during her father’s residence in that city. Byron made her acquaintance in Malta, but Thomas Moore thinks his devotion was more imaginary than real. In a letter to his mother, his lordship says, he “finds her [_Florence_] very pretty, very accomplished, and extremely eccentric.” Thou mayst find a new Calypso there Sweet Florence, could another ever share This wayward, loveless heart, it would be thine. Byron, _Childe Harold_, ii. 30 (1810). _Florence_ (_The German_), Dresden, also called “The Florence of the North.” _Florence_ (_Weir_). A beautiful girl committed to the care of a young man who expects to meet a child. Although hardly released from an engagement to another girl he falls in love with his charge, when his former flame recalls him, but generously resigns him to her younger rival.—Ellen Olney Kirk, _One too Many_ (1889). =Florent=, the nephew of “the emperor,” is condemned to death, but is offered his life if he can solve a certain riddle. An old deformed hag promises him the solution if he will agree to marry her afterward. He keeps faith with his deliverer, and on the wedding-night she is transformed into a beautiful woman.—Gower, _Confessio Amantis_, I. Chaucer puts this story into the mouth of “The Wife of Bath,” _Canterbury Tales_. He does not name the hero, but makes him a bachelor of King Artour’s court. The story is much older than Gower, and is found in the legends of several countries, but Chaucer probably borrowed it from him while changing it in details. =Florentine Diamond= (_The_), the fourth largest cut diamond in the world. It weighs 139-1/2 carats, and was the largest diamond belonging to Charles “the Bold,” duke of Burgundy. It was picked up by a Swiss peasant, who sold it to a priest for half a crown. The priest sold it for £200 to Bartholomew May, of Berne. It subsequently came into the hands of Pope Julius II., and the pope gave it to the Emperor of Austria. (See DIAMONDS.) =Flores= or Isle of Flowers, one of the Azores (2 _syl._). It was discovered in 1439 by Vanderburg, and is especially celebrated because it was near this isle that Sir Richard Grenville, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, fought his famous sea-fight. He had only one ship with a hundred men, and was opposed by the Spanish fleet of fifty-three men-of-war. For some hours victory was doubtful, and when Sir Richard was severely wounded, he wanted to sink the ship; but the Spaniards boarded it, complimented him on his heroic conduct, and he died. As the ship (_The Revenge_) was on its way to Spain, it was wrecked, and went to the bottom, so it never reached Spain after all. Tennyson has a poem on the subject (1878). _Flo´res_ (2 _syl._), the lover of Blanchefleur.—Boccaccio, _Il Filocopo_ (1340)