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Mr. Partridge to happen on March 29, 1708. This he is pleased to contradict abfolutely in the Almanack he has publifh'd for the prefent Year, and in that ungentlemanly Manner, (pardon the Expreffion) as I have above related. In that Work, he very roundly afferts, that he is not only now alive, but was likewife alive upon that very 29th of March, when I had foretold he should die. This is the Subject of the prefent Controverfy between us, which I defign to handle with all Brevity, Perfpicuity and Calmness: In this Difpute, I am fenfible, the Eyes not only of England, but of all Europe, will be upon us: And the Learned in every Country will, I doubt not, take part on that fide, where they find moft Appearance of Reafon and Truth.

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WITHOUT entring into Criticifms of Chronology about the Hour of his Death, I fhall only prove, that Mr. Partridge is not alive. And my firft Argument is thus, Above a Thousand Gentlemen having bought his Almanack for this Year, meerly to find what he faid against me; at every Line they read, they would lift up their Eyes, and cry out, betwixt Rage and Laughter, They were fure no Man alive ever writ fuch damn'd Stuff as this. Neither did I ever hear that Opinion difputed. So that Mr. Partridge lies under a Dilemma, either of difowning his Almanack, or allowing himself to be, No Man alive. But now if an uninformed Carcals walks ftill about, and is pleafed to call it felf Partrige, Mr. Bickerfaff does not think himself any way answerable for that. Neither had the said Car cafs any Right to beat the poor Body, who happen'd to pafs by it in the Street, crying, A fall and true Account of Dr. Partridge's Death, &c,

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SECONDLY,

SECONDLY, Mr. Partridge pretends to tell For tunes, and recover ftolen Goods; which all the Parish fays he must do by converfing with the Devil, and other evil Spirits: And no wife Man will ever allow he could converfe Perfonally with either, till after he was dead.

THIRDLY, I will plainly prove him to be dead out of his own Almanack for this Year, and from the very Paffage which he produces to make us think him alive. He there fays, H. is not only now alive, but was also alive upon that very 29th of March, which I foretold be fhould die on. By this, he declares his Opinion, That a Man may be alive now, who was not alive a Twelvemonth ago. And indeed there lies the Sophiftry of his Argument. He dares not affert he was alive ever fince that 29th of March, but that he is now alive, and was fo on that day: I grant the latter, for he did not die till Night, as appears by the Printed Account of his Death in a Letter to a Lord; and whether he is fince revived, I leave the World to judge. This indeed is perfect cavilling, and.I am ashamed to dwell any longer upon it.

FOURTHLY, I will appeal to Mr. Partridge him felf, whether it be probable, I could have been fo indifcreet, to begin my Predictions with the only Falfhood that ever was pretended to be in them; and this in an Affair at home, where I had fo many Opportunities to be exact; and must have given fuch Advantages against me to a Perfon of Mr. Partridge's Wit and Learning, who, if he could poffibly have raifed one fingleObjection more against the Truth of my Prophecies, would hardly have fpar ed me.

And

And here I must take occafion to reprove the above-mentioned Writer of the Relation of Mr. Partridge's Death, in a Letter to a Lord; who was pleafed to tax me with a Miftake of Four whole Hours in my Calculation of that Event. I must confefs, this Cenfure, pronounced with an Air of Certainty, in a Matter that fo nearly concerned me, and by a grave judicious Author, moved me not a little. But though I was at that Time out of Town, yet feveral of my Friends, whofe Curiofity had led them to be exactly informed, (for as to my own Part, having no Doubt at all in the Matter, I never once thought of it) affured me, I computed to fomething under half an Hour, which (if I fpeak my private Opinion) is an Error of no great Magnitude, that Men fhould raise Clamour about it. I fhall only fay, it would not be amifs, it that Author would henceforth be more tender of other Men's Reputation as well as his own. It is well there were no more Miftakes of that kind, if there had, I prefume he would have told me of it with as little Ceremony.

THERE is one Objection against Mr. Partridge's Death, which I have fometimes met with, tho' indeed very flightly offered: That he still continues to write Almanacks. But this is no more than what is common to all of that Profeffion; Gadbury, Poor Robin, Dove, Wing, and feveral o thers, do Yearly publish their Almanacks, tho' feveral of them have been dead, fince before the Revolution. Now the Natural Reafon of this, I take to be, that whereas it is the Pri vilege of other Authors, to live after their Deaths; Almanack-makers are alone excluded, becaufe

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their

their Differtations treating only upon the Minutes as they pafs, become useless as thofe go off. In Confideration of which, Time, whofe Regifters they are, gives them a Leafe in Reverfion, to continue their Works after their Death.

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I fhould not have given the Publick or my felf, the trouble of this Vindication, if my Name had not been made ufe of by feveral Perfons, to whom I never lent it; one of which a few days ago, was pleased to father on me a new set of Predictions. But I think thofe are thinge too Serious to be trifled with. It grieved me to the Heart, when I faw my Labours, which had coft me fo much Thought and Watching, bawl'd about by Common Hawkers, which I only intended for the weighty Confideration of the graveft Perfons. This prejudiced the World fo much at first, that feveral of my Friends had_the Affurance to afk me, Whether I were in Jeft; To which I only anfwered coldly, That the Event would fbeto. But it is the Talent of our Age and Nation to turn Things of the greateft Importance into Ridicule. When the End of the Year had verified all my Predictions, out comes Mr. Partridge's Almanack, difputing the Point of his Death; fo that I am employed, like the General, who was forced to kill his Enemies twice over, whom a Necromancer had raised to Life. If Mr. Partridge has practifed the fame Experiment upon himself, and be again alive, long may he continue for that does not in the leaft contradict my Veracity: But I think, I have clearly proved, by invincible Demonftration, that he died at fartheft within half an Hour of

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the Time I foretold, and not Four Hours fooner, as the above-mentioned Author in his Letter to a Lord hath Maliciously Suggested, with defign to blaft my Credit, by charging me with fo grofs a Mistake,

FINI S

A Famous

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