XV. MEDICAL AND SURGICAL HOSPITALS, AND LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

THERE is scarcely a district of London which is without its hospital of one kind or another; but we shall first notice the three great endowed hospitals, of which two are of ancient foundation, and are historically interesting. The most ancient of these is ST. BARTHOLOMEW's Hospital. Rahere, the minstrel of King Henry I., not content with founding the priory of St. Bartholomew, annexed to it an hospital, about the year 1122, for the relief of poor and sick persons. The character of Rahere was a remarkable one. Among the manuscripts of the British Museum is one entirely devoted to the life, character, and doings of Rahere, written evidently shortly after his death by a monk of the establishment, and which, for the details it also gives of the circumstances attending the establishment of a great religious house in the twelfth century, its glimpses into the manners and customs, the modes of thought and feeling of the time-and, above all, for its marked superiority of style to the writings that then generally issued from the cloister-forms perhaps one of the most extraordinary, as it certainly is one of the most interesting, of monastical documents. In consideration of all these circumstances, we shall make no scruple to transcribe largely from the good old monk's papers; valuing them all the more for the impossible but characteristic marvels they detail in matters of faith, as being an additional testimony to their authentic character with regard to matters of fact.

Rahere, it appears, was a "man sprung and born from low kynage: when he attained the flower of youth he began to haunt the households of noblemen and the palaces of princes; where, under every elbow of them, he spread their cushions, with japes and flatterings delectably anointing their eyes, by this manner to draw to him their friendships. And still he was not content with this, but often haunted the king's palace, and among the noiseful press of that tumultuous court informed himself with polity and cardinal suavity, by the which he might draw to him the hearts of many a one. There in spectacles, in meetings, in plays, and other courtly mockeries and trifles intending, he led forth the business of all the day. This wise to the king and great men, gentle and courteous known, familiar and fellowly he was." The king here referred to is Henry I. Stow says Rahere was "a pleasant-witted gentleman; and therefore in his time called the king's minstrel." To continue: "This manner of living he chose in his beginning, and in this excused his youth. But the inward Seer and merciful God of all, the which out of Mary Magdalen cast out seven fiends, the which to the Fisher gave the Keys of Heaven, mercifully converted this man from the error of his way, and added to him so many gifts of virtue." Foremost in repentance as he had been in sin, Rahere now "decreed in himself to go to the court of Rome, coveting in so great a labour to do the works of penance. There, at the shrine of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, he, weeping his deeds, prayed to our Lord for remission of them. Those two clear lights of Heaven, two men of mercy, Peter and Paul, he ordained mediators. And while he tarried there, in that mean while, he began to be vexed with grievous sickness; and his dolours little and little taking their increase, he drew to the extreme of life: the which dreading within himself that he had not still for his sins satisfied to God, therefore he supposed that God took vengeance of

him for his sins, amongst outlandish people, and deemed the last hour of his death drew him nigh. This remembering inwardly, he shed out as water his heart in the sight of God, and all brake out in tears; that he avowed that if health God would him grant, that he might return to his country, he would make an hospital in recreation of poor men, and to them so there gathered, necessaries minister after his power. And not long after the benign and merciful Lord beheld this weeping man, gave him his health, approved his vow.

"When he would perfect his way that he had begun, in a certain night he saw a vision full of dread and sweetness," which pointed out Smithfield as the site selected by "the common favour of the celestial court and council" as the site for his building.

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Rahere had no easy task before him. "For truly the place before his cleansing pretended no hope of goodness. Right unclean it was; and as a marsh, dunge and fenny, with water almost every time abounding; and that that was eminent above the water, dry, was deputed and ordained to be the gallows of thieves, and to the torment of other, that were condemned by judicial authority." What follows is very extraordinary :-"Truly, when Rahere had applied his study to the purgation of this place, and decreed to put his hand to that holy building, he was not ignorant of Satan's wiles, for he made and feigned himself unwise, and outwardly pretended the cheer of an idiot, and began a little while to hide the secretness of his soul. And the more secretly he wrought the more wisely he did his work. Truly, in playing unwise he drew to him the fellowship of children and servants, assembling himself as one of them; and with their use and help, stones and other things profitable to the building lightly he gathered together." Rahere's object in this conduct was, we presume, to avail himself of a kind of superstitious reverence that appears to have been not unfrequently felt for persons of the class to which he made it appear that he belonged. With all his enthusiasm, this must have been a painful time. played with them, and from day to day made himself more vile in his own eyes, in so mickle that he pleased the apostle; through whose grace and help he raised up a great frame. And now he was proved not unwise as he we have trowed, but very wise." Rahere, it seems, sought assistance for the accomplishment of his great work by every means in his power, and more particularly by instructing with "cunning of truth," saying "the word of God faithfully in divine churches," and constantly exhorting "the multitude both of clerks and of the laity to follow and fulfil those things that were of charity and alms-deed. And in this wise he compassed his sermon-that now he stirred his audience to gladness, that all the people applauded him; and incontinent anon he proffered sadness, and so now of their sins, that all the people were compelled unto sighing and weeping. But he truly ever more expressed wholesome doctrine, and after God and faithful sermon preached." A man like this could not but succeed in whatever he essayed; and accordingly the work "prosperously succeeded, and after the Apostle's word all necessaries flowed unto the hand. The church he made of comely stone-work, tablewise. And an hospital-house, a little longer off from the church by himself he began to edify. The church was founded (as we have taken of our elders) in the month of March, 1113. President in the Church of England, William Archbishop of Canterbury, and Richard Bishop of London;" who "of due law and right" hallowed a part of the adjoining field as a cemetery. "Clerks to live under regular institution were brought together, and Rahere, of course, was appointed Prior, who ministered unto his fellows "necessaries, not of certain rents, but plenteously of oblations of faithful people." The completion of the work, under such circumstances, evidently excited a large amount of wonder

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and admiration, not unmixed with a kind of superstitious awe. People astonied both of the novelty of the raised frame, and of the founder. trow this place with so sudden a cleansing to be purged, and there to be set up the token of the Cross? And God there to be worshipped, where sometime stood the horrible hanging of thieves? Who should not be astonied there to see construct and builded the honourable building of piety? That should be a sanctuary to them that fled thereto, where sometime was a common offering of condemned people? Who should not marvel it to be haunted?" The writer then finely asks, "Whose heart lightly should take or admit such a man, not product of gentle blood-not greatly endowed with literature, or of divine kynage?"

When the Priory began to flourish and its fame spread, Rahere joined to him a certain old man, Alfun, who, among other charitable works, built the church of St. Giles-without-Cripplegate, and was the first "hospitaller." He used daily to beg for the relief of the poor under his care at the adjoining market and shambles of Smithfield. Four centuries after the foundation of the hospital, the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of London prayed the King (Henry VIII.) to commit the order and governance of both this hospital and St. Thomas's to their hands. The hospital, however, was not transferred to the city until 1546, eight years later, during which period the Crown continued to enjoy its revenues, which at the dissolution of the monasteries were of the gross annual value of £371, of which sum £292 was from rents in London and the suburbs.

In 1544 the hospital was newly incorporated, but its revenues were not regranted; and it does not appear that the new constitution ever came into operation. At length, two years afterwards, in 1546, the King consented to re-found the hospital, for the reception of one hundred poor and sick persons, and to endow it with five hundred marks from its former possessions, on condition that the citizens raised yearly other five hundred marks for its support. This they agreed to do; but Stow says, that the houses which formed the bulk of the property granted by the King were either in such a decayed state, or leased out at such low rents, that great difficulty was experienced in obtaining the required income, and various expedients were adopted to raise this sum. In 1548 there were three surgeons, with salaries of £18 each, appointed to be in daily attendance on the sick; and in 1552 the expenditure, including the payment to the ministers of Christ's Church and St. Bartholomew's, and the diet of the one hundred poor at 2d. per day each, amounted to about £856 per annum. In 1557 this hospital, with St. Thomas's, Christ's, Bridewell, and Bethlem, were united for purposes of administration, and their affairs were managed by one general board until 1782, when an act was passed under which, with the exception of Bridewell and Bethlem, each of them was placed on its present footing and under separate government.

The income of the hospital at present exceeds £30,000 a year. The bulk of the real estate is in London, and the London rents amount to upwards of £17,000 a year; landed estates in differents parts of the country produce above £6000; dividends on stock in the funds, rent-charges, and annuities, about £5500; besides the annual product of the benefactions, which in ten years averaged nearly £450 a year. The pecuniary donations and bequests to the hospital, received up to 1836, when an official return was made, amounted to £236,019, including £40,978 appropriated to building the four wings between 1729 and 1748.

St. Bartholomew's Hospital is situated on the south-east side of Smithfield Market. The principal entrance is through a large arch, ornamented with a statue of Henry VIII., and two figures representing Lameness and Sickness. The main buildings

consist of four separate elevations of three stories in height, faced with stone, standing detached on the four sides of a quadrangle. They were completed from the produce of voluntary subscriptions raised between 1729 and 1760. On the first floor of the north wing there is a very handsome hall, 90 feet by 35, and 30 feet high, which is appropriated to general court meetings and the annual dinners of the governors. The grand staircase was painted gratuitously by Hogarth. The four several stories of the south wing contain fifteen wards, and the west wing contains fourteen wards. The wards in the east and west wings are 52 feet by 21; and their height varies from 10 to 15 feet. In the south wing the wards are 60 feet in length, and the heights are the same on each floor as in the east and west wings. To every ward an apartment for the sister in attendance is annexed. In the roof of each wing is a tank for water, containing from 1800 to 2000 gallons, supplied by a steam-engine; and a continual supply from the New River Company is carried all through the hospital by forcepumps. Besides the quadrangle, the area of the hospital comprises buildings, almost as extensive, for the residences of the different officers, &c. There is also the church of St. Bartholomew the Less, rebuilt about sixteen years ago, at a cost of £6035, out of the hospital funds. At the back of the western wing is a range of buildings containing the Lecture Room for Materia Medica, the Medical Theatre, Pathological Theatre, Chemical Theatre, the Anatomical Museum, Dissecting Rooms, rooms for lecturers, professors, and curators, pupils' room and library, laboratory, apothecary's shop, surgeon's and physician's rooms. The treasurer's house and garden, the burialground of the church, and the vicarage-house, occupy the space north-east of the western wing; and between it and the south-western gateway are houses for the steward, the matron, and the apothecary.

ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL was originally a religious establishment, founded by Richard, prior of Bermondsey, in 1213. In 1538 its possessions were valued at £266; and in the following year they were surrendered to the King. Before the middle of the century the suppressed hospital was purchased by the City of London; and a charter from the crown having been obtained in 1551, and the building repaired and adapted for the reception of poor, lame, and diseased people, it was opened for their admission in November, 1552. For some time the funds of the hospital were insufficient; and in 1562 the lands late belonging to the Savoy Hospital, and some other property, which had been granted to the three hospitals united, were granted for the sole use of St. Thomas's, with a view, perhaps, of equalising the revenues of the several hospitals. Notwithstanding this assistance, in 1564 the treasurer was obliged to advance £100, and in 1569 a sum of £50 was obtained by pawning a lease; but it soon afterwards emerged from its difficulties. The rents of property in London and the suburbs realize about £14,000 a year; the rental of estates in the country about £10,000; and the dividends on stock nearly £1000. From 1693 to 1836 the pecuniary gifts to the hospital amounted to £184,378. The gross annual income applicable to the general purposes of the insitution is about £26,000.

St. Thomas's Hospital is situated in the borough of Southwark, not far from the foot of London Bridge. It consists of several courts or squares, in two of which are statues; one, in brass, of Edward VI. by Scheemakers, and the other one, of stone, of Sir Robert Clayton, Lord Mayor in 1680. A large part of the hospital buildings was rebuilt in 1693, and additions were made to them in 1732. A new north wing was completed in 1836, at a cost of £18,000; the south wing in 1842; and it is intended to rebuild the centre on an adopted plan, when the whole building will present a very imposing appearance. The site of the new north wing and a portion of ground north of the old north wing were purchased of the City for £40,850, which

was at the rate of £54,865 per acre! The Museum, Anatomical Theatre, Demonstrating Theatre, Lecturing Theatre, Dissecting Room, and other appropriate offices attached, cost £8443, and are built on a site formerly covered by slaughter-houses, brothels, and miserable tenements. The Museum and Dissecting Room are 45 feet by 25; the Lecturing Theatre is circular, and 30 feet in diameter. The Museum contains about 6000 preparations. The parish church of St. Thomas stands within the area of the hospital, besides which there is a chapel. The whole parish is the property of the hospital. There are nineteen wards, three of which are 107 feet by 28, and vary in height from 12 feet to 14 feet. They are well ventilated, kept at a uniform and agreeable temperature by fires, and in cold weather by hot-water apparatus, and are generally quite free from offensive smells.

The founder of GUY'S HOSPITAL was neither minstrel nor priest, and though claimed by booksellers as one of their body, his property was acquired by stock-jobbing rather than by literature. At any rate he was a man of great benevolence, and had long been a munificent supporter of St. Thomas's Hospital when he determined himself to be the founder of a new hospital. At the age of seventy-six he commenced the erection of the present building, on which during his life-time he spent nearly £19,000. He died on the 27th of December, 1724, and on the 24th of January following sixty patients were received into the hospital. In 1732 the sum of £220,134 28. 7 d. was carried to the account of his executors, as the residue of Mr. Guy's estate. This magnificent bequest has been laid out at different times in the purchase of real estates in the counties of Essex, Hereford, and Lincoln. The hospital has also been benefited by the enormous bequest of Mr. Hunt, who in 1829 left it a sum amounting to £186,675, besides other property which made the total amount £196,115, on condition of enlarging the hospital and providing one hundred additional beds. This legacy has also been invested in estates. The other benefactions received from the foundation of the hospital to the present time amount to more than £10,000. The gross income is above £30,000 a year, and about £21,000 a year is directly applicable to the purposes of the charity. The rental of the hospital estates is about £25,000 a year, and the dividends from funded property average about £4600 a year.

The entrance to Guy's Hospital is in St. Thomas's Street, by an iron gate opening into a square, in the centre of which is a statue, in brass, of Mr. Guy, by Scheemakers, the pedestal on which it stands bearing on one side an inscription recording Mr. Guy's benevolence, and on the other sides are relievos of Mr. Guy's arms, Christ healing the Impotent, and the Good Samaritan. The main building consists of a centre and two wings, containing residences for the Treasurer, Chaplain, Steward, Apothecary, Butler, Porter, and the "Dressers;" a chapel, in which there is a statue, by Bacon, of Mr. Guy; the "taking-in" and examination rooms, surgery, and waiting-rooms for out-patients, apothecary's shop, medical store-room, laboratories, medical and operating theatres, the electrical room (containing apparatus necessary for electrical and galvanic operations), a room for post mortem examinations, and several wards for patients. Behind this is the Lunatic House, which is peculiar to this hospital. The number of lunatics is twenty-four, the number provided for by Mr. Guy having been twenty. They have a tolerably spacious airing-ground in the rear of the building appropriated to their use, and a garden for their recreation adjoins it. The south side of the hospital ground comprises a mass of buildings, some of which are sick wards; and here are also the museum, theatre, and dissecting-room, and the museum of comparative anatomy, the residences of servants of the hospital, and various offices and store-rooms. The anatomical theatre and the larger theatre in the