DEATH OF A NOTABLE HERMIT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1823, 24 April 1888, Page 3

DEATH OF A NOTABLE HERMIT.

The Paris correspondent of the London '• Daily Telegraph " recently recorded the death of a notable hermit, the venerable gentleman of Fontainebleau, who called himself " Nazareth," and had earned the sobriquet of the " Old Man of the Woods." Who he really waa, whence he came, or what was his early oondition of life, says the "Talegraph," no one ever really knew; but it seems that m the days of the splendour of the Empire this oJd gentleman determined that earth was not good enough to live upon, and re3olved to oreep up a little way nearer to heaven and live there, Tfcis doaoendant of the ancient eremites, or dwellers m the desert, this solitary aeoetlo who desired complete freedom from the cares, temptations, and business of the world, went up a lonely trunk m the thickest pact of the forest, and thereon built himself a nest, with the assistance of three other trees whoso branches he had linked together with damps of iron. The saored eyrie of thh soml-ecoledastloal eagle was reaohed by a ladder, jealously reserved (or his own specialise, and, having onoa gone to roost, the worthy ancient lived up aloft for thirty years, incabatiug problems of theology and philosophy. He does not soem to have left any treatise or ochemo of philosophy or religion bohind him, not does he appear to hava been partial to miracles, or given to exhortations from hiajoelf made pulpit. He jus 1 ; want up that tree, stayed there for three decades, and when his health failed — and the marvel is that it lasted so long — he walked down his ladder, and went off to die with his friend the woodcutter, who had probably endeared himself to the hermit by sparing those fonr particular trees on which he lived. His life may have been m a sense happy, for no disturbing huissier came near him to confiscate his leaves and branohes for non-payment of rent. After all, he was only following m the footsteps of that eccentric shepherd of Oiliola who left his flooks m the beginning of the fifth century, and betook himself to a mountain some forty miles from Antioob, and there shut himself up Id a oirole of stones. Finding the circle Bomewhat too comfortable for his views of what life ought to be, he built onto himself a pillar 9ft high, which was successively raised to the s mowhat alarming height of 60ft. The diameter of the top of his pillar was but 3ft, but it was surrounded by a railing which prevented him from falling off, and gave him something to lean against when he slept, He was olothed m the skins of beasts, he wore an Iron collar round his neoW, and hoisted up his daily food by means of an early species of Jl lift," m the shape of a oord and basket. This gentleman, well-rknown as St. Simeon Stylitee, waß a vastly more important person than the hermit of Fontalnbleau Forest. Twice every day he gave exhortations to the people, and spent the rest of his time m assuming various attitudes of devotion. Now he prayed for hours on his knefß, •and now ho stood for hours erect and upright, with Mb arms stretched out m the form of a oroBB ; bnt hla ftvorlte apastime, and, indeed, his only form of exercise, was that of bending his emaciated and weather-worn body until his head nearly touched hia feeb. A spectator records that on one occasion he aaw the saint make 1240 of theso reverential bowings without pause or real.