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Ch. 2: The Famous Orloff Diamond

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II.
THE ORLOFF.
"Diamonds," says an old writer, "have ever been highly valued by princes. To a sovereign," he argues, " who can command the lives and property o£ his subjects by a word, the ordinary objects of human desire soon lose that stimulating interest which rarity of occurrence and difficulty of acquisition can alone keep. The gratifi­cation of the senses and of unrestricted sway soon palls upon the appetite, and War and Diamonds are the only objects that engross the attention ; the former because it is attended with some hazard and is the only kind of gambling in which the stake is sufficiently exciting to banish the ennui of an illiterate despot; the latter be­cause the excessive rarity of large and at the same time perfect specimens of this gem supplies a perpetual object of desire while each new acquisition feeds the complacent vanity of the possessor."
A CCORDING to this philosophy we should expect to find that the most despotic princes would be the most addicted to the vani-37
Ch. 1: The Famous Regent Diamond Page of 278 Ch. 2: The Famous Orloff Diamond
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