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With such persuasions on their minds, all were on the alert to

discover the guilty; the most indifferent action excited

suspicion, suspicion was changed to certainty, and certainty to

rage.

As illustrations of this, Ripamonti cites two examples which fell

under his own observation, and such were of daily occurrence.

In the church of St. Antonio, on a day of some great solemnity,

an old man, after having prayed for some time on his knees, rose

to seat himself, and before doing so, wiped the dust from the

bench with his handkerchief. "The old man is poisoning the

bench," cried some women, who beheld the action. The crowd in the

church threw themselves upon him, tore his white hair, and after

beating him, drew him out half dead, to carry him to prison and

to torture. "I saw the unfortunate man," says Ripamonti; "I never

knew the end of his painful story, but at the time I thought he

had but a few moments to live."