of her
daughter who was with her. She herself carried Landolfo like a little
child to the town, put him on a stove, and chafed and washed him with warm
water, by which means the vital heat began to return, and his strength
partially revived. In due time she took him from the stove, comforted him
with wine and good cordials, and kept him some days till he knew where he
was; she then restored him his chest, and told him he might now provide
for his departure."(6) Of course the little chest that Landolfo had
clutched by chance in his agony of drowning eventually turned out to be
filled with precious stones, which by a miracle--and miracles were common
enough in the days of the _Decameron_--not only floated of itself but also
supported the weight of Master Landolfo. In any case, the rescued
merchant, with the greed and ingratitude which are often accounted for
sharpness and wit, presented his kind hostess with the empty trunk, whilst
he concealed the gems in a belt upon his own person. Equipped with these
jewels, he made his way across the Adriatic to the Apulian coast, and
thence reached Ravello with greater wealth than he had ever hoped to
obtain with his original capital at the time he set sail for Cyprus.

[Illustration: RAVELLO: IL DUOMO]

Fortunately Ravello, though shrunk to such modest proportions nowadays,
still possesses many memorials of its glorious past. Travellers will of
course turn their steps towards the Duomo, with its yellow baroque facade
abutting on the little piazza that, with its daisy-starred turf and old
acacia trees, forms so pleasant a play-ground for the merry dark-eyed
children of the place. The cathedral of St Pantaleone is--or rather was--one
of the most interesting and richly decorated churches erected in Southern
Italy under the combined influence of Norman and Saracenic art at a time
when cunning workmen were able to blend together the styles of East and
West, and to produce that rich harmonious architecture of which the
splendid churches of Monreale and Palermo present to us the happiest
examples. There still exist intact the magnificent bronze doors with their
fifty-four panels of sculpture in relief, the gift of Sergio Muscettola
and his wife, Sigilgaita Rufolo, and the work of the Italian artist
Barisanus of Trani, who likewise designed and cast the portals of the
cathedrals of his native town and of Monreale. But alas! the interior of
the building, that was once rich with mosaic and