The Merry Past 



his teeth, which made it necessary for him to have 

 frequent recourse to dentists, whose charges became 

 to him what he thought a source of serious expense. 

 March, who was accounted by many to be the best 

 dentist in his day, was frequently employed by him. 

 Notwithstanding, they often disagreed upon the 

 terms he desired to be paid. Upon one occasion of 

 the kind the dentist asked him fifty guineas to do 

 something he wanted. " Fifty guineas ! " exclaimed 

 the Duke. " I will not give it you ; your demand is 

 most exorbitant. I can, for less money, send one 

 of my footmen to Paris, have him educated for a 

 dentist, and when he returns he will do what I want 

 much better than you can." " As you please, my 

 lord Duke," said the dentist. " I hope you will 

 succeed. At any rate, those are my terms, so I wish 

 your Grace a good morning." 



Not many days afterwards, however, the Duke felt 

 that he must submit, and returned to the operator. 

 When he entered the room, before he had time to 

 explain himself, March exclaimed, '^ Well, my lord 

 Duke, is your footman come back from Paris ? Is he 

 become a good dentist ? " " Yes ! Pooh ! pooh ! " 

 said the Duke. " Don't be impertinent. You are 

 a very extravagant extortioner ; but you do your 

 work well, so that I will employ you upon your own 

 terms. There are your fifty guineas ; set about the 

 job immediately." " No, my lord Duke," said the 

 dentist, with much nonchalance. " I will not take 

 your money. Those were my terms when you were 

 here last, but I have since raised them. You have 



255 



