The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Judge for yourself, Signor Aladdin--judge, but do not confine yourself
to one trial. Like everything else, we must habituate the senses to a
fresh impression, gentle or violent, sad or joyous. There is a struggle
in nature against this divine substance,--in nature which is not made
for joy and clings to pain. Nature subdued must yield in the combat, the
dream must succeed to reality, and then the dream reigns supreme, then
the dream becomes life, and life becomes the dream. But what changes
occur! It is only by comparing the pains of actual being with the joys
of the assumed existence, that you would desire to live no longer, but
to dream thus forever. When you return to this mundane sphere from
your visionary world, you would seem to leave a Neapolitan spring for a
Lapland winter--to quit paradise for earth--heaven for hell! Taste the
hashish, guest of mine--taste the hashish."

Franz's only reply was to take a teaspoonful of the marvellous
preparation, about as much in quantity as his host had eaten, and lift
it to his mouth. "Diable!" he said, after having swallowed the divine