Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and, of course, Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London, founded in 1247. In his Horatian satirical poem, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735), Alexander Pope references Bedlam in order to emphasize how he feels bombarded on all sides, by both his critics, who he thinks are insane and/or foolish, and his fans.
Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigu'd, I said,
Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.
The Dog-star rages! nay't is past a doubt,
All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out:
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land. (1-6)
At the time of this poem's publication in 1735, Bedlam was located in Moorfields, now Finsbury Circus, just outside London's north wall near Moorgate.