Sex and the single Victorian novel, #2819

By the 1850s, allusions to sexuality in Victorian fiction tend to be more "coded" (e.g., women's hankies hidden in private getaways) than obvious, but occasionally you find something that's more explicit than you might expect.  The sensationalist historical novel Anne Boleyn; Or, the Suppression of the Religious Houses (1854)--which, from the somewhat pedantic title, probably leads most readers (OK, those two people other than myself who might be inclined to read this novel) to imagine something relatively pious and decorous afoot--doesn't mince too many words in its denunciation of monastic celibacy (12):

Of course, having said that sex is involved, it's not altogether what kind of sex.  The most obvious conclusion (homosexuality) is not necessarily the right answer--or, rather, the only answer--given that we find a woman in monk's clothing appearing shortly thereafter. It's that kind of novel.