THE FIRST HERMITS—WHY SO-CALLED.
Hermits, or Eremites, (from the Greek [Greek: erêmos], a desert place,) were men who retired to desert places to avoid persecution; they lodged in caves and cells:—
"Where from the mountain's grassy side,
Their guiltless feast they bring;
A scrip with herbs and fruit supply'd,
And water from the spring."
The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the year 260; the second, was St. Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345, at the age of 105.
ST. JAMES'S SQUARE.
The author of A Tour through the Island of Great Britain (Daniel Defoe), second edition, 1738, gives us the following particulars of this aristocratic locality:—"The alterations lately made in St. James's Square are entitled to our particular notice. It used to be in a very ruinous condition, considering the noble houses in it, which are inhabited by the first quality. But now it is finely paved all over with heading-stone; a curious oval bason full of water, surrounded with iron rails on a dwarf wall, is placed in the middle, mostly 7 feet deep and 150 diameter. In the centre is a pedestal about fifteen feet square, designed for a statue of King William III. The iron rails are octagonal, and at each angle without the rails, is a stone pillar about 9 feet high, and a lamp on the top. The gravel walk within the rails is about 26 feet broad from each angle to the margin of the basin. It was done at the expense of the inhabitants by virtue of an act of parliament. The house that once belonged to the Duke of Ormond, and since to the Duke of Chandos, is pulled down and makes three noble ones, besides fine stables and coach-houses behind, and two or three more good houses in the street leading to St. James's Church. This noble square wants nothing but to have the lower part of it, near Pall Mall, built of a piece with the rest, and the designed statue to be erected in the middle of the basin.
"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has taken the Duke of Norfolk's house, and another adjoining to it, which are now (October, 1737), actually repairing for his town residence; Carlton House being too small for that purpose."