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Buildings: Bethlehem

Bedlam is a contraction of Bethlehem Hospital, a lazar-house named after the Hospital of St. Mary at Bethlehem, and converted into a lunatic asylum in 1815. This was the common designation in ancient times for a refuge for the poor, the word Bethlehem expressing the Hebrew for " a house of bread"; but in more modern times the synonym Lazar-house was substituted in allusion to Lazarus, who picked up the crumbs under the table of Dives. A refuge for fallen women has always borne the name of a Magdalen Hospital in honour of Mary Magdalen.