This ancient institution (one of the first, if not the oldest, asylums for lunatics in Europe) was founded in 1247, during the reign of Henry III., by Simon Fitzmary, a sheriff of London, at Bishopsgate, when it was designated the Priory of Bethlehem, At the dissolution of the religious houses, the property was seized by Henry VIII., who in 1547 granted the Priory, with all its revenues, to the...