Literary Traces in Bridewell and Bethlem, 1602–1624

• Published in: The Review of English studies 2005-06, Vol.56 (225), p.379-385
• Main Author: Salkeld, Duncan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alchemy; Allusion; English literature; European history; Governors; Hospital libraries; Hospital records; Hospitals; Minute books; Patients; Poverty; Prisoners; Theater; Whetstones
• ISSN: 0034-6551; 1471-6968
• DOI: 10.1093/res/hgi056

The Minute Books of the Court of Governors of Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals make reference to a number of persons associated with early seventeenth-century drama. The actor Christopher Beeston, a member of the earl of Worcester's men, and a former member of the Lord Chamberlain's men, stood accused at Bridewell on 5 November 1602 of raping Margaret White. Beeston denied the charge and brought ‘players’ to a subsequent hearing who ‘vehemently demeaned themselves to the governors’ and ‘much abused the place’. Subtle, in Jonson's The Alchemist, makes a brief topical reference to ‘an alehouse darker than deaf John's’, and entries in the Minute Books identify deaf John as a poor inmate of Bridewell. In Bartholomew Fair, Jonson has an allusion to ‘Whetstone’ at Bedlam. A 1624 census of Bethlem inmates confirms the identity of this character as William Whetstone, a notorious lunatic. Another Bethlem patient, John Gibbons, is recorded as owner of a playhouse on Bankside. This article identifies the playhouse concerned as the Hope.