FIFTEENTH STATION.
The Miracle of San Gennaro—The Royal Family of Naples—Museo Borbonico—The Minister of the Interior, Bianchini—The Inner Life of Naples—The Innermost—Benevolent Institutions—The Handsome Nuns—System of Government in Naples—Excursion to Caserta and Portici—Villa Reale and the comet—The Folk's Theatre of Naples—New Acquaintance—New Troubles—The Prince of Villa Ambrosa—The Princess Elsa—A Day in Pompeii—Magnanimity and Despair—Rapid Journey to Sicily and—The End.
Naples, September 23d.—On the nineteenth of September, I know not how many centuries ago, a certain Bishop Gennaro, or Januarius, was beheaded in Naples for his Christian faith. His Christian friends or relatives collected his blood in a bottle, and this bottle was kept and remains to the present day—so at least it is said—in the church of San Gennaro, which was built at the close of the thirteenth century, in memory of the martyr. This blood is turned from a rigid mass into a fluid state, in answer to the prayers of the populace and the priests, twice or thrice in the course of a year, if—the saint be favorably disposed to Naples and its people. If the change be tardy in its operation, then the Saint is not in good humor; but should the mass continue unchanged altogether, even cruel misfortune would be expected. On the 19th of September and during the whole folowing week, the change may be expected, and it was to be witnesses of this, so-
