#133 bedlam

bedlam- a noisy confused place or situation; state of uproar; an asylum, madhouse

-C13 bedlem, bethlem, after a hospital in Bethlehem, London

In one asylum in London, St. Mary's of Bethlehem Hospital - form which the word bedlam is derived - the public could buy tickets to observe the antics of the inmates, much as we would pay to see a circus sideshow or animals at the zoo.

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