It was
a wonderfully delicate piece of carving, and in a moment, through one
of the rents of his gown, you espied a fat capon hung round the monk's
waist. In Newman's intention what did the figure symbolize? Did it mean
that he was going to try to be as "high-toned" as the monk looked at
first, but that he feared he should succeed no better than the friar, on
a closer inspection, proved to have done? It is not supposable that he
intended a satire upon Babcock's own asceticism, for this would have
been a truly cynical stroke. He made his late companion, at any rate, a
very valuable little present.
Newman, on leaving Venice, went through the Tyrol to Vienna, and then
returned westward, through Southern Germany. The autumn found him at
Baden-Baden, where he spent several weeks. The place was charming, and
he was in no hurry to depart; besides, he was looking about him and
deciding what to do for the winter. His summer had been very full, and
he sat under the great trees beside the miniature river that trickles
past the Baden flower-beds, he slowly rummaged it over. He had seen and
done a great deal, enjoyed and observed a great deal; he felt older,
and yet he felt younger too. He remembered Mr. Babcock and his desire
to form conclusions, and he remembered also that he had profited very
little by his friend's exhortation to cultivate the same respectable
habit.
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