Of the more subtle humour, which consists in the discovery of real but hidden incongruities, and the perception of what is innately absurd, there is no trace.

The obvious abuses of the time are satirized in this way _ad nauseam_.

The rapacity of the clergy in general, the idleness and lasciviousness of the monks, the pomp and luxury of the prince-prelates, the inconsistencies of Church traditions and practices with Scripture, with which they could now be compared, since it was everywhere circulated in the vulgar tongue, form their never-ending theme.

They reveal to the reader a state of things that strikes one none the less in English literature of the period--the intense interest of all classes in theological matters.

It shows us how they looked at all things through a theological lens.