Bethlem Hospital *Physicians: Dr. Monro; Sir A. Morison. Surgeon: W. Lawrence, Esq. Resident Medical Officer: Dr. W. Wood.

This ancient institution (one of the first, if not the oldest, asylums for lunatics in Europe) was founded in 1247, during the reign of Henry III., by Simon Fitzmary, a sheriff of London, at Bishopsgate, when it was designated the Priory of Bethlehem, At the dissolution of the religious houses, the property was seized by Henry VIII., who in 1547 granted the Priory, with all its revenues, to the Corporation of London ; from which time, it was appropriated as a hospital for the cure of lunatics. Owing to the limited income the institution possessed; the usefulness of this charity was necessarily circumscribed, until the year 1G75; when, by the liberality of benevolent individuals, a splendid building was erected in Moorfields for the reception of 152 insane patients. Tradition reports that the design was taken from the Tuileries; which so incensed the " grande monarque," Louis XIV., when he heard his regal chateau had been made the model of a madhouse in London, that he ordered a plan of St. James's palace to be taken for offices of the meanest nature. Over the gates of the old hospital, constructed in Moorfields, the two celebrated statues were placed of