82 THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER.

inserted in the Royal Gazette, and which all other news-
papers were ordered to copy, to the effect that “‘ add persons
who fancied they had teeth good enough to break the Crack-
atook nut, were to present themselves at the palace, and if
they succeeded, would be liberally rewarded for their trouble.”

This circumstance was well suited to show how rich the

kingdom was in strong jaws. The candidates were so nu-
merous, that the king was forced to form a jury, the foreman
of whom.was the crown
dentist; and their duty
was to examine all the
competitors, to see if
they hadall their thirty-
two teeth perfect, and
whether any were de-
cayed.
Three thousand fiye
hundred _ candidatés
were admitted to this
first trial, which lasted
a week, and which produced only an immense number of
broken teeth and jaws put out of place.

It was therefore necessary to make a second appeal; and
all the national and foreign newspapers were crammed with
advertisements to that purpose. The king offered the post
of Perpetual President of the Academy, and the order of the -
Golden Spider to whomsoever should succeed in cracking
the Crackatook nut. There was no necessity to have a degree
of Doctor of Philosophy, or Master of Arts, to be competent
to stand as a candidate.

This second trial produced five thousand candidates. All
the learned societies of Europe sent deputies to this import-
ant assembly. Several members of the English Royal
Society were present; and a great number of critics belong-
ing to the leading London newspapers and literary journals;
but they were not able to stand as candidates, because their
teeth had all been broken long before in their frequent