"Hermit" includes some of the earliest instances of the 'aliases' "Amos" and "Harriot", and might be the source of those names.The book often appears more concerned with providing moral instruction than with presenting a factual account; "The Life of Amos Wilson" contains the passage, "You see by the foregoing pages the gradation of evils dependent on a departure from...dignified modesty," and admonishes readers to "(t)urn your attention to those houses of debauchery where Vice reigns triumphant, and on whom poor mourning Virtue sheds a tear of pity."