Niccolini; Arnaldo da Brescia.
[40]. Mrs. Starke lived for some years at the Cocumella, at Sorrento. Her account of the place and scenery around, is both accurate and well written, and for this part of Italy she is an excellent guide. Mr. Cooper, the author of “The Spy,” has written very agreeable “Excursions in Italy,” the most interesting portion of which regards Sorrento.
[41]. Rogers’s Italy.
[42]. Among modern historians Sismondi and Gibbon dwelt with pleasure on the commerce and prosperity of Amalfi. It was an oasis where the mind of the historian reposed, fatigued by barbarous wars and innumerable acts of cruelty. Gibbon quotes the description given by Guglielmus Apulus—
“Nulla magis locuples argento, vestibus, oro,
Pontibus innumeris; hâc plurimus urbe moratur
Nauta maris cœlique vias aperire peritus.
Huc et Alexandri diversa feruntur ab urbe
Regis, et Antiochi. Quis hæc freta plurima transit.
His Arabes, Indi, Siculi nascuntur et Afri.