18th-century Brits installed real hermits in their gardens as ornamental features

By Creator:Johann Baptist Theobald Schmitt - Scan from Idea. Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunsthalle. Prestel, München 1991, ISSN 0724-133-X, Bd. 10 (1991), S. 197, Public Domain, Link

In 18th-century Britain, wealthy landowners hired actual human beings to live in their gardens as living ornaments. They were called garden hermits, paid residents installed lik…