It is
true a bad habit can only be contracted by degrees; and I will not
say, because I do not know, whether anyone has ever cured himself of
one by degrees; but it cannot be the best way. What is bad ought to
be got rid of at once."
"Ah, but, don't you know? that might cost you your life!"
"What of that, my lord! Life, the life you mean, is not the first
thing."
"Not the first thing! Why, the Bible says, 'All that a man hath will
he give for his life'!"
"That is in the Bible; but whether the Bible says it, is another
thing."
"I do not understand silly distinctions."
"Why, my lord, who said that?"
"What does it matter who said it?"
"Much always; everything sometimes."
"Who said it then?"
"The devil."
"The devil he did! And who ought to know better, I should like to
ask!"
"Every man ought to know better. And besides, it is not what a man
will or will not do, but what a man ought or ought not to do!"
"Ah, there you have me, I suppose! But there are some things so
damned difficult, that a man must be very sure of his danger before
he can bring himself to do them!"
"That may be, my lord: in the present case, however, you must be
aware that the danger is not to the bodily health alone; these drugs
undermine the moral nature as well!"
"I know it: I cannot be counted guilty of many things; they were
done under the influence of hellish concoctions.
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