South West View of Bethlem Hospital and London Wall

by J.T. Smith
1814

Bethlehem Hospital and London Wall, drawn in 1814 and published in Ancient Topography of London, by John Thomas Smith (London: J. M'Creery, published and sold by the proprietor, John Thomas Smith, etc., 1815) (facing page 32).

The annexed plate exhibits half the back front of Bethlem Hospital, and also the back, and part of the side, of the West wing, erected by benevolent contributions, in 1733, for the reception of Incurables.

This view commences from the scite of Moorgate, which stood much about the spot, where the bill-sticker stands (see the print). The other half of Bethlem was precisely the same, with the addition of a house for the Apothecary; and ended at the Postern, which stood opposite to Winchester Street: this half was sold by auction, in various lots, and brought about 5000l. The back of this building stands nine feet distant from the City wall, which, in some measure, acts as a screen to it. The principal entrance is from the North, of brick and free-stone, adorned with four pilasters, a circular pediment and entablature of the Corinthian order. The King's arms are in the pediment, and those of Sir Wm. Turner above the front centre window. Notwithstanding the melancholy purpose for which it was erected, it certainly conveys ideas of grandeur. Indeed it was for many years the only building which looked like a Palace in London. Carleton House, which is now by no means, even with its costly screen, so princely as might have been expected, was in my memory a mere lodging house in appearance. As for St. James's palace, it looks more like a place of confinement, than a palace. London should have boasted such a building as Hampton Court, for the town residence of our Sovereign. Before the front of Bethlem, there is a spacious paved court, bounded by a pair of massy iron gates, surmounted with the arms of the Hospital, viz. Argent, two Barrs Sable, a Labell of five points, throughout Gules, on a Chief Azure, an Estoile of sixteen points, Or, charged with a plate thereon, a Cross of the third, between a Human Scull, in a cup on the dexter side, and a Basket of Bread, i. e. Wastell Cakes, all of the fifth, on the sinister. Early mention is made of Wastell bread, by Chaucer, who says, speaking of the Prioress.

Of smale houndes hadde, she, that she fedde,
With rosted flesh, and milk and wastel brede.

Some further particulars relating to Wastell bread, may be found in Mr. Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare and Ancient Manners, Vol. ii. p. 210.

These gates hang on two stone piers, composed of columns of the Ionic order, on either side of which there is a small gate for common use. On the top of each pier, was a recumbent figure, one of raving, the other of melancholy madness, carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber. The feeling of this sculptor was so acute, that it is said he would begin immediately to carve the subject from the block, without any previous model, or even fixing any points to guide him; and I have often heard my father say, that his master, Roubiliac, whenever city-business called him thither, would always return by Bethlem, purposely to view these figures. They have lately been conveyed to Mr. Bacon's, to be cleaned, previously to their recrection at the New Hospital, built upon the scite of the late Dog and Duck, St. George's Fields; the expense of which building was estimated, as I am informed, at 150,000l. These figures have been drawn by Stothard, and engraved by Sharp.

With all due deference to Mr. Roubeliac's admiration, and the estimation of many others, in my humble opinion, they have been overrated. Indeed had they been the productions of Flaxman, they could not have been rated higher. The following lines upon these figures were in the possession of an unfortunate gentleman, who died in this Hospital some few years since:

Bethlemi ad portas se tollit dupla columna; Hic calvum ad dextram tristi caput ore reclinat,		Vix illum ad levam ferrea vincla tenent. Dissimilis furor est statuis; sed utrumq. laborem, Et genium artificis laudat uterq. furor.
At Bethlem gates two columns rise to view; What's feign'd without, in life within proves true: On stones without, two kinds of grief are seen ; Like dolorous passions obvious reign within. This, to the right, in dismal state Lolling leans backward his bald pate. In doleful dumps, on inward light The visionary rolls back his sight. That, to the left, his iron chain With difficulty can restrain.		His veins with fiery choler swell— His anger a foretaste of Hell. And what the sculptor here doth paint, Within, griefs similar represent. Two statues diverse ills express Each equally remote from bliss: As different as fire from frore. That seems to whine, and this to roar. Eternal honour to the artist give: And bid his fame and genius live. Ingenious toil that could devise One foaming fury, one as cool as ice.

Pope, in the Dunciad, has noticed these figures, in the following lines:

Close to those walls where folly holds her throne,
And laughs to think Monroe would take her down;
Where o'er the gates, by his fam'd father's hand,
Great Cibber's brazen, brainless brothers stand.

For these figures, it is currently reported, that Cibber took the porter of Oliver Cromwell as his model.

There is an excellent figure, by Cibber, of a Bag-piper, in the garden front of Mr Hinch-cliffs house, situate on the east side of Tottenham Court Road, No 178. It was his father's, and stood for many years in his stone yard, in Long Acre.

The principal entrance to this Hospital, is above four semicircular steps, and where the Porter attends, at an iron gate, commonly called the Penny Gate: for it must be stated, though I confess to the disgrace of our ancestors, that formerly, nay indeed, until about forty years back, persons of every class, male and female, were allowed to walk through the wards of both sexes, as though the unfortunate maniacs had been wild beasts, by paying a penny at this gate, on their return. A perfect picture of this public exhibition of the most distressing of all maladies, is given by Hogarth, in his last plate of the Rake's Progress. At present the visits of idle curiosity are strictly forbidden, and none are admitted but by leave of the Governors. Members of Parliament have free access, and the relatives of patients are never denied the privilege of seeing them.

The men and women, in old Bethlem, were huddled together in the same ward. In this Hospital they have different wards, and gardens for air and recreation.

On either side of what are called the penny gates, the eye of taste is again arrested by a statue of a maniac, holding a money bottle; that on the right represents a man, and that on the left a female. They are excellently carved in wood, nearly the size of life, have frequently been painted in proper colours, and bear other evidence of age. It is reported, that they were brought from Old Bethlem. In tablets over the niches in which they stand, is the following supplication: "Pray remember the poor Lunaticks, and put your Charity into the Box with your own hand."

The passage in which these figures stand, opens into the Hall, under the south cornice of which is the following inscription, in gilt letters.

"This Hospital was begun to be built in April, 1675, and was finished July, 1676, Sir William Turner, Knight and Alderman, President, and Benjamin Ducane, Treasurer. Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Knight, Alderman, Esq. and President of this Hospital, gave 100l. to purchase 5l. per ann. towards the repairs of this Hospital for ever, Anno Domini 1707."

Round this Hall are eighteen tablets for the reception of names of benefactors, divided at top by Cherubims' heads, excellently carved in wood, and much resembling those by Grinlin Gibbons, in the Choir of St. Paul's. On the left hand, north of the Hall, is a room, in which the physician and apothecary examine the patients. The Royal arms adorn the chimney-piece, and eighteen of the pannels, record the names of benefactors. In a corner of this room is preserved the production of a grateful patient, carved in wood and gilt; of which the following is a copy:

O GOD • KEEPE • ALL DWELLING • IN THIS PLACE IN HEALTH AND WEALTH WITH • TRUTH AND GRACE • AMEN • I G

At the right and left of the hall there are large iron gates opening into the galleries, or wards for the patients. These wards are lit up from the North, and the cells, or sleeping rooms, are on the South side. The men were confined on the East half of the building, the women on the West. The staircase ascends from the South side of the hall, and is adorned with twenty-two pannels, containing the names of donors, surmounted with Cherubims' heads, similar to those in the hall. At the top of this staircase, there is a lobby, on the right and left of which there are iron gates, like those below, opening into similar galleries. At the foot of the gates, within the iron-work, on the female side, a horse-shoe has been let into the floor, as a protection from witchcraft; a custom of considerable antiquity, and which continues in England to this day. There are several in London, fifteen, for instance, are on the fronts of the thresholds of houses in Monmouth Street, three in Bedfordbury, and no less than twenty-eight in Rosemary Lane, commonly called Rag Fair; and within the memory of several of my friends, they were placed on the fronts of coal-barge cabins.

On the South of this lobby, there is a large handsome room for the governors, who meet every Saturday. It has a beautifully ornamented plaister ceiling; and over the West chimney-piece is a curious three quarter portrait, of King Henry the Eighth, the founder of the Hospital, painted on pannel, in a rich dress ornamented with precious stones. He has a glove in his right hand, and his walking stick in his left. This picture, in my humble opinion, was painted before Holbein practised in England, as it is destitute of the superior knowledge of that great artist, both in colouring and effect. I think Holbein's splendid picture of him, in Barber-Surgeons' Hall, will support my remark. On the South side of this room, is a portrait of that great friend to the Hospital, Sir William Turner, painted at an advanced age and said to be the production of Sir Peter Lely. There is another portrait of him at Bridewell Hospital, by Beale. The other portraits preserved in this room, are of Edward, son of Rob. Barkam, of Lincolnshire, and Mary his wife. They gave a large estate in that county, to this charity, estimated at 6000l. 

Between these pictures hangs a small oval frame, containing the arms of Bethlem Hospital, surrounded by those of the Presidents, from the year 1640 to the present day, of which the following is a list: 

Sir George Whitmore, 29th January, 1640 Sir John Woolastone, 12th September, 1643 Sir Charles Packer, 9th November, 1649 Sir Richard Brown, 14th September, 1666 Sir William Turner, 22d October, 1669 Sir Robert Geoffry, 9th July, 1689 Sir William Turner, 28th August, 1690 Sir Robert Geoffry, 17th March, 1693 Sir Samuel Dashwood, 15th March, 1703 Sir Thomas Rawlinson, 22d September, 1705 Sir William Withers, 15th December, 1708

Sir Samuel Garrad, 10th March, 1720 Humphrey Parsons, 5th August, 1725 Robert Willmott, 18th January, 1741 William Benn, 28th January, 1746 Sir Richard Glynn, 25th September, 1755 Sir William Rawlinson, 11th February, 1773 Brackly Kennet, 31st July, 1777 Brass Crosby, Esq. 7th June, 1782 Sir James Sanderson, 14th February, 1792 Sir Richard Carr Glynn, 1st March, 1797

Over the east chimney-piece there is a picture of the arms of England, surmounted by the initials, R. H. This and the portrait of Henry, over the other chimney-piece, are said to have been brought from old Bethlem. In this room there are four drawings in Indian ink, two of them large; one exhibits the North elevation of the Hospital, the other a plan of the first floor. The two others are of a smaller size, and represent the front and back view of the principal gates, with Cibber's figures.

Above this court room, and the galleries already described, are other rooms, for the house-keeper and safer sort of patients. Those patients, who die poor, are buried at the expense of the Hospital, in a burial ground East of Golden Lane; the spot is known by the appellation, of " the Wooden World," most of the houses consisting entirely of timber.

The Galleries are three-hundred and thirty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and fourteen feet high; independent of the additional wings. From the numerous list of those who have contributed towards the support of this humane institution, the following names are selected as the principal.

Lord Craven gave towards      rebuilding this house 1677 John Hobby, Esq.      The Countess of Devon 1678 Mrs. Philippa Brooke 1679 Mr. Richard Staples 1680 Sir Peter Vandeputt      Mr. James Mawrais 1682 Sir John Moore, to Bride-      well and Bethlem      Mr. Robert Blanchard 1692 Mr. Robert Hyett 1693 Captain John Jones 1698 Mr. John Brare      Lord Craven      Mr. Edward Bettison      Mr. John Land 1699 Mr. Edmund Burroughs      Mr. John Edmonson gave,      to Bridewell and Bethlem      Hospitals, lands in the      Isle of Thanet of the      yearly value of      Mr. John Johnson 1701 Mr. Freemantle      Mr. Deputy Gwyn 1702 Sir Thomas Viner 1704 Henry Harbyn      Thomas Guy 1705 John Parsons, a farm in the      Isle of Thanet, of the      yearly rent of      and after that his whole      estate.

l. 100 100 100 300 100 100 200 500 100 100 125 250 100 100 100 335 80 105 100 100 200 150 200 100

s. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

d. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1684 Dr. Garret 1689 Mr. Alexander Hosea 1691 Sir James Edwards      Jacob Lucy, Esq. Mr. John Fowke gave a      yearly rent of Mr. William Pott gave the      manor of Barston, and      other lands in Kent, of     the yearly value of Sir Robert Jeffery 1744 to 1747, Captain John Al-      dred gave to incurables 1772 Sir Watkin Williams      Wynne, Bart.      Nicholas Nixon, Esq. of           Mincing Lane, gave           between Bridewell and           Bethlem Hospitals And the late Benjamin      Kenton, Esq. among      other great gifts, left to      Bridewell and Bethlem      Hospitals

l. 100 200 125 100 190 111 200 3,205 200 10,000 10,000

s. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

d. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0

The number of patients contained in this House, were, on the 3d of January, 1815, Men 51, women 70.

From a drawing by John Dunstall, kindly communicated to me by Mr. Richardson, Auctioneer, of King-street, it appears, that the outer gates of this Hospital consisted originally of wooden frames, with plain iron bars, and that the ground has been considerably raised in front, as there were four stone steps immediately under the gates.

The only plan which I have hitherto been able to meet with, that gives the distribution of the premises of Old Bethlem Hospital, is the rare one by Hollar, before noticed, in the possession of Mr. Lloyd. It is curious in other particulars, it exhibits Moorfields, then divided into quarters, with trees surrounding each division, the scite of the second Bethlem Hospital, then an uninterrupted space, and a cluster of five windmills standing on the scite of the North side of Finsbury Square, a part of which ground was, within my memory, called Mill Hill. (32)