Hone questions the Council's decision to refuse to admit his painting ['The Two Monks Carousing'] to the exhibition on the grounds that the RA should be laid open to censure by the depiction of a painted wooden cross. The cross is not a crucifix, and the Council has failed to understand its use as satire. Hone will therefore not alter the painting. The letter also bears the draft reply of the President and Council [in
Reynolds's hand]: they fail to see the satire that Hone describes and refuse to sacrifice religious considerations.