Punch,  35 (1858), 202.

Monks and Monkeys

Anon

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Species, Religious Authority, Animal Behaviour, Descent


    Following accusations by vestrymen that Puseyites were engaged in 'Monkish Practices', suggests, while shrinking from speaking irreverently of the 'reverend gentlemen', that monks can be seen as 'little else than monkeys'. Supports the claim with several comparisons between Puseyites and monkeys: insists that Puseyites are 'strongly prone to imitation, which everybody knows is of a monkeyish descent', and involves the Puseyite aping 'the Priest's bearing and demeanour'; the Puseyites 'evince considerable activity', not least the rapidity with which they alternate 'bows and genuflexions'; Puseyites, like monkeys, 'evince a mania for mischief', in particular their 'monkey-like' enjoyment of the quarrels which ensue from their 'dissensions in the Church'; and Puseyites, like monkeys, exhibit a 'Restlessness of disposition', in particular their habits of 'for ever shifting and changing' their position and their 'Roming tendency'. Concludes by noting that while ladies 'may make pets' of monkeys, such animals irritate husbands, not least when they are 'up to such tricks as the Confession'.



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