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In the tenth century, however, a group of towns in southern Italy Brindisi, Bari, Taranto, and Amalfi began to send ships to the eastern Mediterranean and were soon imitated by Venice and later by Genoa and Pisa.

By contrast with the frequenters of Amalfi they all seemed to wear overpoweringly good clothes and perfectly new hats and caps, and their russet shoes were resplendent. They moved as though everything belonged to them, from the wild crests of the hills above to the calm blue water below, and the hotel servants did their best to foster the agreeable illusion.

He got as far as the Capo d' Orso, the headland half-way between Amalfi and Salerno, and there sat down by the wayside to rest. From this point Salerno was first visible, in the far distance, between the sea and the purple Apennines. Either Elgar was not coming, or he had lingered long between the two portions of his journey. Mallard turned back; if the carriage came, it would overtake him.

Its political liberty had already been crushed by the Normans, and now its ships and its wealth were dissipated by the Pisans; it was a double measure of ignominy and disaster from which Amalfi never recovered.

On the 7th of May the galleys returned from Palermo, bringing captive with them two of those of Amalfi which had accompanied them in the expedition, and the crew, inflamed either by example or indignation at the unnatural and useless attempt in which they had been employed against their fellow-countrymen, loudly demanded French blood to slake their thirst for vengeance.

Even if one has been to the moon, one has still to earn a living. So I am working here at Amalfi, on the scenario of that play I sketched before Cavor came walking into my world, and I am trying to piece my life together as it was before ever I saw him. I must confess that I find it hard to keep my mind on the play when the moonshine comes into my room.

Certainly I know nothing of the kind in the world equal to this road in grandeur, and if any of you ever visit Naples I advise you to let nothing interfere with your going to Amalfi. At Sorrento we joined our friends, Mr. H. and party, and our Windsor Hotel delegation was further and happily augmented by Mr. and Mrs. I. and family. Can you wonder that our daily excursions were delightful?

Below us, as we rapidly descend the slopes by the curves of the Corniche road, lies the little beach known as Lo Scaricotojo, whence in the days previous to the construction of this splendid highway all visitors were wont to embark for Amalfi;—that is, unless they attempted the expedition by way of the mountain roads leading thither from Castellamare or La Cava. It raises a smile in these days of swift and luxurious travelling to learn from an early Victorian guide-book thatthe most elegible mode of going from Sorrento to Amalfi is either to ride or to be carried in a chaise

Amalfi, Genoa, and Pisa followed their example; but their trade never became very considerable till the period of the crusades, when the treasures of the West were in fact placed in their hands, and thus fresh vigour was given to their carrying trade, manufactures, and commerce.

Few landscapes can compare in extent or beauty with the view on which Tiberius looked. The promontory of Massa lies across the blue reach of sea, almost as it seems under one's hand yet really a few miles off, its northern side falling in brown slopes dotted with white villas to the orange gardens of Sorrento, its southern rushing steeply down to the hidden bays of Amalfi and Salerno.