Ornamental Hermits

 

I just found out about "ornamental hermits" a real thing that was a hot trend in the early 18th to early 19th century among the Kardashians of the day. If you were filthy rich you needed your own garden hermit to be considered fashionable. 

You stuck the hermit in a shabby cave, grotto, dwelling or tree stump called a "hermitage" and paid him as long he lived as a recluse among the bushes, and agreed to not talk, bathe, cut his nails or wear shoes. How quaint! What fun!

Actually, that sort of is my kind of fun -- living without any responsibilities except the single aim of staying unsociable and unkempt ---sounds like my weekends!

I haven't found any good, clear images of the ornamental hermits yet. No portraits 'cause no one could get close to them, ha ha. 

Maybe I'll have to draw one.