DESCRIPTIONS OF INTERIOR. 75 ing commentary on the past and present appearance of an asylum gallery. In a poem bearing the title of "Bedlam," and dated 1776, the writer, after bestowing praise on the building, adds: "Far other views than these within appear, * Within the chambers which this Dome contains, Rattling his chains, the wretch all raving lies, And roars and foams, and Earth and Heaven defies." Ned Ward, in his "London Spy," gives a graphic account of his visit with a friend to Bedlam :-" "Thus," he says, "we prattled away our time, till we came in sight of a noble pile of buildings, which diverted us from our former discourse, and gave my friend the occasion of asking me my thoughts of this magnificent edifice. I told him I conceived it to be my Lord Mayor's palace, for I could not imagine so stately a structure to be designed for any quality inferior; he smiled at my innocent conjecture, and informed me this was Bedlam, an Hospital for mad folks. In truth, said I, I think they were mad that built so costly a college for such a crack-brained society; adding, it was a pity so fine a building should not be possessed by such who had a sense of their happiness: sure, said I; it was a mad age when this was raised, and the chief of the |