Supposed Death of PARTRIDGE, the Almanack-Maker."
WELL; 'tis as Bickerstaff has guefs'd,
Though 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 aftrologer fhou'd die
Without one wonder in the sky!
Not one of all his crony stars
To pay their duty at his herfe!
No meteor, no eclipfe appear'd!
No comet with a flaming beard!
The fun has rofe, and gone to bed,
Juft 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 fuch matter.
See an account of his death, which Partridge averred
to be falfe, and Bickerstaff defended as true, Vol. III. Some
Some wits have wonder'd what analogy
There is 'twixt cobling and aftrology;
How Partridge made his opticks rife
From a fhoe-fole to reach the skies.
A lift the cobler's temples ties,
To keep the hair out of his eyes;
From whence 'tis plain, the diadem
That princes wear derives from them:
And therefore crowns are now-a-days
Adorn'd with golden ftars and rays;
Which plainly fhews the near alliance
"Twixt cobling and the planets fcience.
Befides, that flow-pac'd fign Bootes,
As 'tis mifcall'd, we know not who 'tis: 1
But Partridge ended all disputes;
He knew his trade, and call'd it* boots.
The borned moon, which heretofore
Upon their shoes the Romans wore,
Whose wideness kept their toes from corns,
And whence we claim our fboeing-borns,
Shews how the art of cobling bears
A near resemblance to the spheres.
A fcrap of parchment hung by geometry
(A great refinement in barometry)
Can, like the stars, foretel the weather;
And what is parchment elfe but leather?
Which an aftrologer might use
Either for almanacks or fhoes.
Thus Partridge by his wit and parts
At once did practife both these arts:
And as the boading owl (or rather
The bat, because her wings are leather)
Steals from her private cell by night,
And flies about the candle-light;
So learned Partridge could as well
Creep in the dark from leathern cell,
And in his fancy fly as far
To peep upon a twinkling ftar.
Befides, he could confound the Spheres, And fet the planets by the ears; To fhew his skill, he Mars could join To Venus in afpect malign;
Then call in Mercury for aid,
And cure the wounds that Venus made.
Great scholars have in Lucian read,
When Philip king of Greece was dead,
His foul and Spirit did divide,
And each part took a diff'rent fide:
One rofe a ftar; the other fell
Beneath, and mended fhoes in hell.
Thus Partridge ftill fhines in each art,
The cobling and far-gazing part,
And is inftall'd as good a star
As any of the Cæfars are.
Triumphant ftar! fome pity fhow
On coblers militant below,
Whom roguish boys in ftormy nights
Torment by piffing out their lights,
Or thro' a chink convey their smoke
Inclos'd artificers to choke.
Thou, high exalted in thy sphere,
May'st follow ftill thy calling there.
To thee the Bull will lend his bide,
By Phoebus newly tann'd and dry'd:
For thee they Argo's hulk will tax,
And scrape her pitchy fides for wax :
Then Ariadne kindly lends
Her braided hair to make thee ends :
The point of Sagittarius' dart
Turns to an awl by heav'nly art;
And Vulcan, wheedled by his wife,
Will forge for thee a paring-knife.
For want of room by Virgo's fide,
She'll ftrain a point, and fit aftride,
To take thee kindly in between;
And then the figns will be thirteen.
Tibi brachia contrahet ingens
HERE, five foot deep, lies on his back
A cobler, ftarmonger, and quack;
Who to the ftars in pure good-will
Does to his beft look upward ftill.
Weep, all you customers that use
His pills, bis almanacks, or shoes :
And you that did your fortunes feek,
Step to his grave but once a week:
This earth, which bears his body's print,
You'll find has fo much virtue in't,
That I durft pawn my ears'twill tell
Whate'er concerns you full as well,
In phyfick, ftolen goods, or love,
As he himself could, when above.
* VERSES
To be prefix'd before
BERNARD LINTO T's New Miscellany*.
SOME Colinceus' praife, fome Bleau',
Others account them but fo fo; Some Plantin* to the reft prefer, And fome efteem old Elzevir*;
The Oxford and Cambridge mifcellany, 8vo.
Printers famous for hav
ing publifhed fine editions of the Bible, and of the Greek and Roman clafficks.
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