magine he could not hold out long, and therefore
withdrew to a little coffee-house hard by, leaving a servant at the
house with orders to come immediately, and tell me, as near as he could,
the minute when Partridge should expire, which was not above two hours
after; when, looking upon my watch, I found it to be above five minutes
after seven; by which it is clear that Mr. Bickerstaff was mistaken
almost four hours in his calculation. In the other circumstances he was
exact enough. But whether he has not been the cause of this poor man's
death, as well as the predictor, may be very reasonably disputed.
However, it must be confess'd the matter is odd enough, whether
we should endeavour to account for it by chance, or the effect of
imagination: For my own part, tho' I believe no man has less faith in
these matters, yet I shall wait with some impatience, and not without
some expectation, the fulfilling of Mr. Bickerstaff's second prediction,
that the Cardinal de Noailles is to die upon the fourth of April, and if
that should be verified as exactly as this of poor Partridge, I must
own I should be wholly surprized, and at a loss, and should infallibly
expect the accomplishment of all the rest.

*****

An Elegy on the supposed Death of Partridge, the Almanack-Maker.

Well, 'tis as Bickerstaff has guess'd,
Tho' we all took it for a jest;
Partridge is dead, nay more, he dy'd
E're he could prove the good 'Squire ly'd.
Strange, an Astrologer shou'd die,
Without one Wonder in the Sky!
Not one of all his Crony Stars
To pay their Duty at his Herse?
No Meteor, no Eclipse appear'd?
No Comet with a flaming Beard?
The Sun has rose, and gone to Bed,
Just as if partridge were not dead:
Nor hid himself behind the Moon,
To make a dreadful Night at Noon.
He at fit Periods walks through Aries,
Howe'er our earthly Motion varies;
And twice a Year he'll cut th' Equator,
As if there had been no such Matter.

Some Wits have wonder'd what Analogy
There is 'twixt Cobbling* and Astrology:
How Partridge made his Optics rise,
From a Shoe-Sole, to reach the Skies.

A List of Coblers Temples Ties,
To keep the Hair out of their Eyes;
From whence 'tis plain the Diadem
That Prince