Satires without Satan.
THE SLUMBERING PRIEST,
NEW COLLEGE,
OXFORD.here are numbers of grotesques which are satires evidently aimed at sins, but which have not the visible attendance of the evil one himself.
Among these must be included a curious carving from Swine, in Holderness. The priory of Swine was a Cistercian nunnery of fifteen sisters and a prioress. Mr. Thomas Blashill states, “There were, however, two canons at least, to assist in the offices of religion, who did not refrain from meddling in secular affairs.”[5] There was also a small community of lay-brethren.
The female in the centre of the carving is a nun; her hood is drawn partly over her face, so that only one eye is fully visible, but with the other eye she is executing a well-known movement of but momentary duration. The two ugly animals between which she peers are intended for hares, a symbol of libidinousness, as well as of timidity.
THE WINKING NUN, SWINE, YORKSHIRE.