FLORENCE

florence, william jermyn (1831-1891), american actor, of irish descent, whose real name was bernard conlin, was born on the 26th of july 1831 at albany, n.y., and first attracted attention as an actor at brougham's lyceum in 1851. two years later he married mrs malvina pray littell (d. 1906), in association with whom, until her retirement in 1889, he won all his successes, notably in benjamin woolf's _the mighty dollar_, said to have been presented more than 2500 times. in 1856 they had a successful london season, mrs florence being one of the first american actresses to appear on the english stage. in 1889 florence entered into partnership with joseph jefferson, playing sir lucius o'trigger to his bob acres and mrs john drew's mrs malaprop on a very successful tour. his last appearance was with jefferson on the 14th of november 1891, as ezekiel homespun in _the heir-at-law_, and he died on the 18th of november in philadelphia. florence of worcester (d. 1118), english chronicler, was a monk of worcester, who died, as we learn from his continuator, on the 7th of july 1118. beyond this fact nothing is known of his life. he compiled a chronicle called _chronicon ex chronicis_ which begins with the creation and ends in 1117. the basis of his work was a chronicle compiled by marianus scotus, an irish recluse, who lived first at fulda, afterwards at mainz. marianus, who began his work after 1069, carried it up to 1082. florence supplements marianus from a lost version of the english chronicle, and from asser. he is always worth comparing with the extant english chronicles; and from 1106 he is an independent annalist, dry but accurate. either florence or a later editor of his work made considerable borrowings from the first four books of eadmer's _historia novorum_. florence's work is continued, up to 1141, by a certain john of worcester, who wrote about 1150. john is valuable for the latter years of henry i. and the early years of stephen. he is friendly to stephen, but not an indiscriminate partisan. the first edition of these two writers is that of 1592 (by william howard). the most accessible is that of b. thorpe (eng. hist. soc., 2 vols., 1848-1849); but thorpe's text of john's continuation needs revision. thorpe gives, without explanations, the insertions of an ill-informed gloucester monk who has obscured the accurate chronology of the original. thorpe also prints a continuation by john taxter (died c. 1295), a 13th-century writer and a monk of bury st edmunds. florence and john of worcester are translated by j. stevenson in his _church historians of england_, vol. ii. pt. i. (london, 1853); t. forester's translation in bohn's _antiquarian library_ (london, 1854) gives the work of taxter also. (h. w. c. d.)