Excerpt from The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond; The Book of Snobs<br><br>The story appeared originally in Fraser's Magazine, in the year 1841, and was written at a time when the writer himself was suffering under the severest' personal grief and calamity. Those who are curious in such points of literary biography, may thus account for a certain sobriety and melancholy which pervades this little tale. As I read it myself, after a seven years' lapse, I can recall the circum stances under which it was written, and the thoughts, other than those on the paper, which accompanied the author through his work.<br><br>The tale, which was always a favourite with its writer, was not particularly well received at the time of its first appearance; or noticed, except by one or two persons.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.