Nature
provided him with the second, and, to say the truth, he strove manfully
himself to keep up the other two requisites in his creed. It was a
favorite maxim with him, that the last thing death assailed was the
eyes, and next to the last, the jaws. This he interpreted to be a clear
expression of the intention of nature, that every man might regulate, by
his own volition, whatever was to be admitted into the sanctuary of his
mouth; consequently, if the guest proved unpalatable, he had no one to
blame but himself. The surgeon, who was well acquainted with these views
of his patient, beheld him, as he cavalierly turned his back on Mason
and himself, with a commiserating contempt, replaced in their leathern
repository the phials he had exhibited, with a species of care that was
allied to veneration, gave the saw, as he concluded, a whirl of triumph,
and departed, without condescending to notice the compliment of the
trooper. Mason, finding, by the breathing of the captain, that his own
good night would be unheard, hastened to pay his respects to the
ladies--after which he mounted and followed the troop at the top of his
horse's speed.
CHAPTER X
On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires,
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.
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