The Naples correspondent of the Tinzes, a man who knows
South Italy profoundly, reports an extraordinary outburst of superstition at Torre del Greco, a place, we may remark, where -superstition is fostered by the permanent danger from the moun- tain. The Bishop of Ischia died there on the 3rd inst., and as he had a reputation for sanctity a great crowd accompanied his corpse to the cemetery. Suddenly a cry was raised that a miracle had happened, that a dumb girl had recovered her voice through touching the cloth of the coffin, and the people, rushing -on the body, bore it off to the church, and began tearing away bits of the coffin and grave-clothes as miracle-working relics. The priests, a little better educated than their flock, mounted the pulpits, and told them the day of miracles was past, but the yelling crowd of fanatics would not desist till they had left the corpse naked on the altar. They would probably have torn the body to pieces also, but that a clever priest rang -the bells, the crowd hurried out, and the gates were shut behind them. The priests showed courage and common-sense, but they have been educating this crowd for hundreds of years.
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