Written by Megan Crutchley
One of the most infuriating tropes of early modern narratives is the idea of working-class tourism. From biblical times all the way to the modern day, the trope of virtuous poverty has been around. Evident in Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper, in Peter Collinson’s film Up The Junction (1968) and even in The Hannah Montanna Movie (2009). A short stay with people from working-class backgrounds, in an area less affluent as the one they came from, seems to fix all ailments in these characters’ lives. They perpetuate an idealised version of life, living on the bread line, having no money and therefore, nothing to corrupt. In most of these narratives, there is also a key event at the denouement of the plot, and it is a return of the tourist to their more affluent lifestyle, having been made a better person due to their experience with those ‘less fortunate’ than themselves, and more appreciative of how ‘lucky’ they are.
But this mindset stems from a long tradition of working-class tourism, and one result of this tradition is the Hermitage: a staple of Great British gardens popularised during the eighteenth century. This tradition grew alongside that of the romantic period, where society emphasised a movement back to nature. The emphasis can be seen throughout forms of culture; from poetry to music and, as I will discuss, in the garden itself. Nature became a source for philosophical thought, and the garden was a way for the elite to experience this luxury privately. It became popular to integrate art into the natural landscape in order to inspire the viewers, hence why garden designs became peppered with statues, urns, and small hut-like buildings often built into rocks.
The purpose of these small buildings—Hermitages—was to remind the viewers of a life without materiality, community, and wealth. Some landowners took this to more of an extreme, by spending periods of time in the hermitages, living closer to nature and away from their privileged and affluent lifestyle. This is what formed the origins of the ‘country retreat’, initially for members of the government, in order to escape their civic lifestyle in a strive for self-knowledge. It was believed that once they returned, they would be able to resume their civic work with less self-interest.
Some landowners, who could not commit to this lifestyle, would hire a ‘hermit’. A man would be employed to live in a hermitage, a small, not very well-furnished building in the landowner’s garden. One advertisement for such a position, published by Charles Hamilton of Painshill Surrey, reads that the hermit would be provided with “A Bibel [sic], optical glasses, a mat for his feet, a hassock for his pillow, an hourglass for his timepiece, water for his beverage and food from the house”, but in return is not permitted to “cut his hair, or nails, stray beyond the limits of Mr Hamilton’s grounds or exchange one word with his servants”. The landowners would use this man as a source of knowledge and advice due to his simple and virtuous lifestyle without material wealth, he was perceived to have access to a higher realm of thought.
The emphasis on the physical requirements of the hermit suggests that the purpose of the hermit to an extent is to provide some sort of performance for the landowners. This comes into conflict with the landowner’s justification for hermits living in their own form of luxury – they do not suffer from the worries of wage labour, bills, or any other anxieties stemming from modern society. If this were the truth, and their experience was truly about their lifestyle, then their physical appearance would not matter.
The idea of a hermit as something only accessible to the elite of society emerged during the industrial revolution. The traditional elite fell back on their status as landowners to create a divide between the emerging middle class who gained their wealth from factories. To be a hermit meant you had land that you could live off, independent of the government and to any outside influence. This trend has continued, since to become a hermit one has to have the material privilege required to achieve that form of social mobility; either own land that one can live off or have money to set up a home such as this in the first place.
The idea of the hermitage in the eighteenth century used elitist ideas about philosophy, gained from antiquity, in order to glamorise the working-class lifestyle and to portray it as luxurious to supposedly live without worldly cares. However, in actuality, the majority of people living this country lifestyle were extremely deprived and had no choice but to live off their own land. They did not have the means to socially move up and down the class system. Hence why there was always an end to the country retreat for these landowners, or they hired someone else to live this life for them. Having no money is eye opening for them, but only for a short while. The opportunity to escape commodifies working class lifestyles – to the tourist it is not a system with no means of escape, but a new perspective on life they can take with them back to their prior privileged experience. Hence why Pulp said “you will never understand how it feels to live your life with no meaning of control” and “if you called your dad he could stop it all”. These are lines that could have been read to these eighteenth century landowners and still hold meaning, just as they were sang to a girl studying sculpture at Saint Martin’s College who wanted to “live like common people”.
Bibliography
Chelsom, P. (Director). (2009). The Hannah Montana Movie [Motion Picture].
Collinson, P. (Director). (1968). Up The Junction [Motion Picture].
Harwood, E. S. (2000, Winter N/A). Luxurious Hermits: Asceticism, Luxury and Retirement in the Eighteenth-century English Garden. Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, pp. 265-296.
Henderson, P. (1999, Summer N/A). The Architecture of the Tudor Garden. Tudor Gardens, pp. 54-72.
Pulp (Director). (1995). Common Poeple [Motion Picture].
Twain, M. (2015 [1881]). the Prince and the Pauper. Minneapolis: First Avenue Editions.
Featured image credit: Pulp performing at Isle of Wight Festival, 2011. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pulp_performing_at_Isle_of_Wight_Festival_2011_9.JPG
Retrospect Journal 
