ANCRES AND HERMYTES

For sum fleen from the world and closen hemsilf in wallis,
And steken hem in stones, and litil wole thei speken,
To fleen sich occasiouns as foly wole fynden;
And thees we clepen ancres in the comoun speche.

Also in contemplacion there ben many other,
That drawen hem to disert and drye [endure] muche peyne,
Bt eerbis, rootes, and fruyte lyven for her goddis love,
And this maner of folk man callen hermytes,

-- FRIAR DAW TOPIAS (Political Poems, ed. Wright, ii, 64).

When saynt Jone was in the yle of Pathmos, than God schewed hym his pryvytees. -- RICHARD THE HERMIT

I. Island and fen recluses.

A little lowly hermitage it was,
Down in a dale hard by a forest's side. -- SPENSER, Faerie Queene

II. Forest and hillside hermits.

Far from men in the wilderness . . . enclosed in a cave . . . deep down in the grey rock. -- Life of Edward the Confessor

III. Cave dwellers.

[And so on for every chapter]