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Sketches in Bedlam: or Characteristic Traits of Insanity, as Displayed in the Cases of One Hundred and Forty Patients of Both Sexes, Now, or Recently, Confined in New Bethlem
Sketches in Bedlam is the account of mental patients in Bethlem, Europe’s most infamous psychiatric hospital. It was published in the early 19th century.
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Published April 3, 2017
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July 11, 2024
(1823)
RICHARD B. E—R—G,
Aged twenty-three, admitted 5th September 1822. This young man was a surgeon and apothecary in Southwark, and his derangement is attributed to the intensity of professional study and application.
He has a high opinion of his own personal symmetry, views himself in the glass, when he has an opportunity, examines the proportions of his limbs, and asks all about him what they think of him.
He is ever in that unsettled, uneasy state, which Dean Swift termed the fidgets.
DAZELY HURRILL,
Aged thirty-three, admitted 21st June 1822. This man had been a rustic labourer. When admitted to this hospital he was in a very weakly state. His countenance and complexion were scarcely of human aspect, having more the resemblance of a baboon, without the lively grimace of that animal.
His mind was deeply impressed with the notion that he was here on board a convict-ship, on his voyage to Botany Bay. His conversation every morning was about the rocking and heaving of the vessel during the preceding night. My eyes!" he would exclaim, "how she did roll about, pitch, and heave last night! I thought it was all over with us."
One morning his keeper found him with his legs and body under his bed, and holding on with both hands by the side of the bedstead. On asking him what he was about; he answered, "My dear soul! I am glad you are come. I have been holding on all night, and am almost gone."
When the keeper shewed him his error, the poor fellow said: "Lord have mercy on me! Why it is a bed!" and heaving a deep sigh, continued, "I thought I was hanging by the ship's side all night. I did not know till now that I was in the cabin all the while!"
WILLIAM ELMORE,
Aged thirty-four, from Kettering, in Northamptonshire, admitted the 11th of April 1822. This poor object had been a common labourer. He was obstinate and untractable, almost beyond all example.
In order to shave him, it required the aid of a keeper at each arm and leg, another at his head, and others to restrain his body and yet, with all, the operation could not be thoroughly effected.
He would be induced to take no part of his provisions but by dint of force: and although he would cry out repeatedly, "for God's sake give me something to eat;" yet the instant that food was brought before him he would reject it with horror, as a patient in the hydrophobia would reject any liquid, and would struggle with all his might to avoid it.
So far did delusion carry this man's fancy, that he actually believed he had neither eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, nor teeth. While feeding him, his keeper would desire him to open his mouth. "Mouth!" he would answer, "I have got no mouth; I had a nice large one once, but I have got none now." He actually supposed his mouth to be quite an opposite part of his person, and would call aloud to his keeper when endeavouring to feed him, "don't! pray don't put meat and things in there! it's so unnatural. Nobody ever did that before to any man; its so unreasonable : pray don't do it!"
JOHN PARKER,
Aged forty, admitted 19th December 1822. This poor man was a butcher in London, and was in a bad state of health when he came here. His derangement was attributed to a cause, very rarely, if ever heard of, namely, his extraordinary success in business.
Here his ideas were continually occupied on his trade; he was always giving answers to his customers; praising the various joints of meat, and fixing his price; and one time he imagined he had bought five hundred bullocks at a halfpenny each; sheep, two for three farthings; and lambs three a penny.
He was continually making bargains in Smithfield; "send me home these fifty bullocks, here's your money, fifty pence make four shillings and twopence; fifty halfpence are two shillings and a penny; here you are; here's your money; what do you buy? what are you looking for? very well, come in an hour, ma'am, my man's out; kill them bullocks; yes, sir; do it directly; I am going to get half a pint of beer; very well, make haste; bring me a glass of brandy and water," &c. &c. &c. In this manner was his distracted mind continually exercised, until his health declining very fast, he kept his bed, and died 14th January 1823.
WILLIAM GARWOOD,
Aged fifty-four, from Ongar in Essex, admitted 21st July 1822. His deluded imagination conceives that he has the entire management and regulation of the sun; and he is extremely diligent in his duty, for he watches the great luminary from its rising to its setting, and will stand on tiptoe to take a last affectionate glance, as it descends below his horizon.
He thinks he can see in it all manner of things: rabbit-warrens, coaches, horses, wars, battles, &c. &c.; and he says, that had it not been for his care, much mischief would have come of it. He can stop it whenever he likes, and has the sole direction of its course. It would have fallen to the earth several times but for him; and sometimes he thinks it so low that he is obliged to raise it up again.
He complains piteously of mischievous boys and others throwing stones at it, by which means they must hurt the poor thing. It does them no harm, and why should they illuse it? He can't think how people can be so cruel!
He was detected one day with his blanket under his arm, going into the airing ground to catch the bright object of his care, as it was sinking down, that it might fall soft. He looks at the poor dear creature, until the tears trickle from his eyes in profusion.
He is at times very noisy, and will talk most incoherently day and night; and, when in a high fit, he says he is the ruler of all things; the great and mighty master of heaven and earth, as will shortly be seen, for the consummation of all things is at hand.
He pretends to know all persons, and gives to every one an appellation of his own. One physician is a waggoner; another a ploughman; a third a shoemaker, from Chipping Ongar. He knows all about him; tells him he has no business here, and bids him to be off as he is wanted at home. To all he sees he is equally ready to assign new
avocations, and nothing can dissuade him from these whims.
WILLIAM ROBERTSON,
From Ditton, Surry, admitted 14th of March 1822. This poor fellow was a market-gardener, and the source of his malady seems to have been religious enthusiasm.
He thinks he has destroyed the world, and that all evil has been occasioned by him. He is continually asking if it would not be better for him to die.
In contemplation of his own death, he has written several wills;
Last Will and Dying Confession of William Robertson.
When I first received my call was in 1819; to die 29th June 1822. I desire that all fires may be extinguished, all work and labour to stop, and all bells to have done ringing all over the world.
"I request Mr. Jones to cease conversing with the walls, or, as he says, with his wife.
"I desire Lloyd to leave off begging, Groves to leave off swearing, Mr. Smith to leave off advising, and all persons to have done eating and drinking. Mr. Smith, and all the patients, to be discharged, Mr. Longley to go home to night to his wife and family; Mr. Lintott to go home to his friends before he dies; Taunton to leave off killing men and beasts of men; William Griffin to get better tempered; George Tester to leave off his mad pranks; Whennell to leave off chewing tobacco; Pinion to have his parish, and be restored to his friends; Phippard not to stamp and rave as he does sometimes; George Brown not to be so simple; Gardener to leave off looking at the sky, sun, moon, and stars; and the Duke to stop crying about his family. Mr. Smith to have my clothes, and the gooseberry-pie to be sent to my brother Charles; and, when all these things are performed, I wish to die any death the Governors chuse. With their leave, I prefer bleeding to death. Longney to have my jacket, to be buried in the church-yard; all things to be performed as soon as possible.
"Witness my dying speech and wish."
RICHARD POCOCK,
From Guilford, Surry, admitted in March 1818. Being one day hungry, he tore up his shirt," to make the most of it," as he says, and sent it out by a boy to sell as old rags; in return for which the boy brought him a two-penny loaf and twopenceworth of tobacco. From the circumstance of thus disposing of his shirt, the overseers deemed him mad.
He imagines that whatever he thinks of is immediately destroyed: or, as he terms it,
"thrown up." In this notion he will often say "he has, by thinking of it, destroyed America, and has just thrown up Jersey, and France, and Spain, and all the monkeys at Gibraltar, and Plymouth-Dock, and Hastings; that he has cut up Mrs. Such-an-one's hen-roost, and Mr. Suchan-one's pig-stye at Guilford; and that his poor, dear Guilford, where his good and worthy friend Mr. Hand lived, is now no more."
The next day he will try to remedy the mischief and misery he has produced; and with his eyes closed, his body bent double, and his hands and arms extended in front, like one groping in the dark, he will exclaim:
" I never thought of America, nor Jersey, nor France, nor Spain, nor Portugal, nor Plymouth-Dock. I never thought of a pig-stye, nor of Guilford. Oh, poor Guilford! and poor, good Mr. Hand. I never thought of a plough share, nor yet of a knapsack, nor yet of a summer-house, nor a spicket and fosset, nor a monkey's-beard, nor a hen's-foot, nor a finger-organ, nor a boar's-bristle: I never thought of a parson, nor yet of a hedge-hog, nor of a flying-squirrel in America; nor yet of a monkey shaving himself, nor of the hinges of Mr. H's cellardoor, nor of the river of Polinac, in France, where I sailed from;" with innumerable other topics equally wild.
RICHARD B. E—R—G,
Aged twenty-three, admitted 5th September 1822. This young man was a surgeon and apothecary in Southwark, and his derangement is attributed to the intensity of professional study and application.
He has a high opinion of his own personal symmetry, views himself in the glass, when he has an opportunity, examines the proportions of his limbs, and asks all about him what they think of him.
He is ever in that unsettled, uneasy state, which Dean Swift termed the fidgets.
DAZELY HURRILL,
Aged thirty-three, admitted 21st June 1822. This man had been a rustic labourer. When admitted to this hospital he was in a very weakly state. His countenance and complexion were scarcely of human aspect, having more the resemblance of a baboon, without the lively grimace of that animal.
His mind was deeply impressed with the notion that he was here on board a convict-ship, on his voyage to Botany Bay. His conversation every morning was about the rocking and heaving of the vessel during the preceding night. My eyes!" he would exclaim, "how she did roll about, pitch, and heave last night! I thought it was all over with us."
One morning his keeper found him with his legs and body under his bed, and holding on with both hands by the side of the bedstead. On asking him what he was about; he answered, "My dear soul! I am glad you are come. I have been holding on all night, and am almost gone."
When the keeper shewed him his error, the poor fellow said: "Lord have mercy on me! Why it is a bed!" and heaving a deep sigh, continued, "I thought I was hanging by the ship's side all night. I did not know till now that I was in the cabin all the while!"
WILLIAM ELMORE,
Aged thirty-four, from Kettering, in Northamptonshire, admitted the 11th of April 1822. This poor object had been a common labourer. He was obstinate and untractable, almost beyond all example.
In order to shave him, it required the aid of a keeper at each arm and leg, another at his head, and others to restrain his body and yet, with all, the operation could not be thoroughly effected.
He would be induced to take no part of his provisions but by dint of force: and although he would cry out repeatedly, "for God's sake give me something to eat;" yet the instant that food was brought before him he would reject it with horror, as a patient in the hydrophobia would reject any liquid, and would struggle with all his might to avoid it.
So far did delusion carry this man's fancy, that he actually believed he had neither eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, nor teeth. While feeding him, his keeper would desire him to open his mouth. "Mouth!" he would answer, "I have got no mouth; I had a nice large one once, but I have got none now." He actually supposed his mouth to be quite an opposite part of his person, and would call aloud to his keeper when endeavouring to feed him, "don't! pray don't put meat and things in there! it's so unnatural. Nobody ever did that before to any man; its so unreasonable : pray don't do it!"
JOHN PARKER,
Aged forty, admitted 19th December 1822. This poor man was a butcher in London, and was in a bad state of health when he came here. His derangement was attributed to a cause, very rarely, if ever heard of, namely, his extraordinary success in business.
Here his ideas were continually occupied on his trade; he was always giving answers to his customers; praising the various joints of meat, and fixing his price; and one time he imagined he had bought five hundred bullocks at a halfpenny each; sheep, two for three farthings; and lambs three a penny.
He was continually making bargains in Smithfield; "send me home these fifty bullocks, here's your money, fifty pence make four shillings and twopence; fifty halfpence are two shillings and a penny; here you are; here's your money; what do you buy? what are you looking for? very well, come in an hour, ma'am, my man's out; kill them bullocks; yes, sir; do it directly; I am going to get half a pint of beer; very well, make haste; bring me a glass of brandy and water," &c. &c. &c. In this manner was his distracted mind continually exercised, until his health declining very fast, he kept his bed, and died 14th January 1823.
WILLIAM GARWOOD,
Aged fifty-four, from Ongar in Essex, admitted 21st July 1822. His deluded imagination conceives that he has the entire management and regulation of the sun; and he is extremely diligent in his duty, for he watches the great luminary from its rising to its setting, and will stand on tiptoe to take a last affectionate glance, as it descends below his horizon.
He thinks he can see in it all manner of things: rabbit-warrens, coaches, horses, wars, battles, &c. &c.; and he says, that had it not been for his care, much mischief would have come of it. He can stop it whenever he likes, and has the sole direction of its course. It would have fallen to the earth several times but for him; and sometimes he thinks it so low that he is obliged to raise it up again.
He complains piteously of mischievous boys and others throwing stones at it, by which means they must hurt the poor thing. It does them no harm, and why should they illuse it? He can't think how people can be so cruel!
He was detected one day with his blanket under his arm, going into the airing ground to catch the bright object of his care, as it was sinking down, that it might fall soft. He looks at the poor dear creature, until the tears trickle from his eyes in profusion.
He is at times very noisy, and will talk most incoherently day and night; and, when in a high fit, he says he is the ruler of all things; the great and mighty master of heaven and earth, as will shortly be seen, for the consummation of all things is at hand.
He pretends to know all persons, and gives to every one an appellation of his own. One physician is a waggoner; another a ploughman; a third a shoemaker, from Chipping Ongar. He knows all about him; tells him he has no business here, and bids him to be off as he is wanted at home. To all he sees he is equally ready to assign new
avocations, and nothing can dissuade him from these whims.
WILLIAM ROBERTSON,
From Ditton, Surry, admitted 14th of March 1822. This poor fellow was a market-gardener, and the source of his malady seems to have been religious enthusiasm.
He thinks he has destroyed the world, and that all evil has been occasioned by him. He is continually asking if it would not be better for him to die.
In contemplation of his own death, he has written several wills;
Last Will and Dying Confession of William Robertson.
When I first received my call was in 1819; to die 29th June 1822. I desire that all fires may be extinguished, all work and labour to stop, and all bells to have done ringing all over the world.
"I request Mr. Jones to cease conversing with the walls, or, as he says, with his wife.
"I desire Lloyd to leave off begging, Groves to leave off swearing, Mr. Smith to leave off advising, and all persons to have done eating and drinking. Mr. Smith, and all the patients, to be discharged, Mr. Longley to go home to night to his wife and family; Mr. Lintott to go home to his friends before he dies; Taunton to leave off killing men and beasts of men; William Griffin to get better tempered; George Tester to leave off his mad pranks; Whennell to leave off chewing tobacco; Pinion to have his parish, and be restored to his friends; Phippard not to stamp and rave as he does sometimes; George Brown not to be so simple; Gardener to leave off looking at the sky, sun, moon, and stars; and the Duke to stop crying about his family. Mr. Smith to have my clothes, and the gooseberry-pie to be sent to my brother Charles; and, when all these things are performed, I wish to die any death the Governors chuse. With their leave, I prefer bleeding to death. Longney to have my jacket, to be buried in the church-yard; all things to be performed as soon as possible.
"Witness my dying speech and wish."
RICHARD POCOCK,
From Guilford, Surry, admitted in March 1818. Being one day hungry, he tore up his shirt," to make the most of it," as he says, and sent it out by a boy to sell as old rags; in return for which the boy brought him a two-penny loaf and twopenceworth of tobacco. From the circumstance of thus disposing of his shirt, the overseers deemed him mad.
He imagines that whatever he thinks of is immediately destroyed: or, as he terms it,
"thrown up." In this notion he will often say "he has, by thinking of it, destroyed America, and has just thrown up Jersey, and France, and Spain, and all the monkeys at Gibraltar, and Plymouth-Dock, and Hastings; that he has cut up Mrs. Such-an-one's hen-roost, and Mr. Suchan-one's pig-stye at Guilford; and that his poor, dear Guilford, where his good and worthy friend Mr. Hand lived, is now no more."
The next day he will try to remedy the mischief and misery he has produced; and with his eyes closed, his body bent double, and his hands and arms extended in front, like one groping in the dark, he will exclaim:
" I never thought of America, nor Jersey, nor France, nor Spain, nor Portugal, nor Plymouth-Dock. I never thought of a pig-stye, nor of Guilford. Oh, poor Guilford! and poor, good Mr. Hand. I never thought of a plough share, nor yet of a knapsack, nor yet of a summer-house, nor a spicket and fosset, nor a monkey's-beard, nor a hen's-foot, nor a finger-organ, nor a boar's-bristle: I never thought of a parson, nor yet of a hedge-hog, nor of a flying-squirrel in America; nor yet of a monkey shaving himself, nor of the hinges of Mr. H's cellardoor, nor of the river of Polinac, in France, where I sailed from;" with innumerable other topics equally wild.
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