Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-14
By Marvin Dana

= Ce11T SO common TO our
ture in connection with mad
ness, had its origin in a word almost sacred,
Bethlehem.
More than six centuries ago,-in 1247, to
be exact,-one Simon Fitzmary, alderman and
sheriff of London, bestowed all his property in
the parish of Saint Botolphs without the
Bishopsgate, to be used as a priory for the
Order of Saint Mary of Bethlehem. In that
gift lies the origin of Bedlam. To-day, the
original site is covered by two railroad sta
tions, the Broad-st. and the Liverpool-st.
More than a century after its establishment
the priory was seized by King Edward I'LL,
though it was too poor to be worth the taking.
1t was not until 1403 that reference to the
place IS found in connection with madness. In
that year, however porter named Peter was
reputed to be suffering from the wies of the
Evil One, and in some roundabout manner
this fact resulted in a royal commission to
inquire into the administration of the monas-
tery's affairs. From the report of the COM
mission, it appears that SIX lunatics were con-
fined in the priorv at that time. \ gruesome
appendix to the report gives an inventory OF
the appliances found in the house, among
which were six chains of iron, four pairs OF
manacles of iron, and two pairs of stocks.
The word used to designate the place was
soon shortened from Bethlehem to Bedlam.
Wyclif calls it Bedleem; but in the time of
Tyndal it had become corrupted to the pres
ent form. Moreover, it had then come to be
synonym of madness; for in the prologue to
the New Testament occurs this passage:
1t is bedlam madde to affirm that good is
the natural cause of well.
So, too, Shelton in his bitter satire of Wolsey:
He grimes and he gapes
AS it were JACKIE Napes,
Such mad Bedlam!'
Those were the DAYS when madness was
most hideouS, when men and women whose
brains had run riot were crowded together
without any decencv, when the violent re-
manned always chained to the walls, and those
less vicious were loaded with irons. The best
sentiment of the time found nothing out
rageous in the cruelty with which the lunatiCs
were treated. Sir Thomas More displa yed
SNUG satisfaction with his own conduct when
he issued orders that lunatC whom he found
bowling In the street should be diligently
scourged at the public whipping post. The
familiarity of such brutal treatment is again
instanced in ShakespeareS reference to the
dark house and the whip" as good for madmen.
On the title page of Burton's Anatomy of Mel
ancholy" IS a monument to the ages Infamous
attitude toward the insane:
But see the mailman rage downright,
With furious looks, CHASTITY sight:
Naked in chains, bound doth he lie,
And roars amain, he knows not why"
At this period, and indeed for long after,
harmless lunatics were permitted to roam the
streets at will as beggars. This fact explains
the frequent occurrence In our literature OF
the phrase, Bedlam Beggar. or Tom o Bed
lam. Usually they wore an ox'S horn sus-
pended from thong about the neck. When
they came to a house to solicit charity, they
would sound blasts on the horn in warning of
their presence, and when drink was given them
they would pour it into the horn, for which
stopper was carried. This makes clear the
clamation of Edgar in King Lear. Poor
also patter that ran something like this: