John Partridge (1644 – c. 1714) was an

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astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

, the author and publisher of a number of astrological almanacs and books.

Life

Partridge was born 18 January 1644 ( OS) in

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mortl ...

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, and died in either 1714 or 1715. Although starting out in life humbly enough (he was working as a shoemaker in Covent Garden around 1680), Partridge managed to teach himself enough

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and

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

to enroll at

Leyden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

, Holland. He graduated in Medicine and by 1682 was styling himself "Physician to his Majesty". Although he was one of the sworn

physicians A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

of the court, he apparently never attended nor received any salary. Partridge undertook to himself the task of reforming astrology. His program for reform involved eliminating the elements derived for the medieval Arabic tradition in favour of a return to

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

. Partridge was strongly identified with the Whig faction in seventeenth-century English politics. He was forced into exile in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...

during the reign of James II. The reign was also marked by Partridge's feud with his former astrological mentor John Gadbury, who converted to Catholicism. This quarrel spread into a feud with George Parker.

Swift hoax

In the 1708 edition of the ''Merlinus Almanac'', Partridge sarcastically referred to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

as the "infallible Church". This drew the attention of satirist and

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

cleric

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...

. Playing on Partridge's own (generally inaccurate) yearly predictions of deaths of notable individuals, Swift, writing under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Isaac Bickerstaff, predicted in a letter published in January 1708 that Partridge himself would die an "infallible death" on 29 March that year. On that date, Swift published another letter (purportedly by a "man employed in the Revenue") confirming Partridge's death. The letter was reprinted by other writers and publishers along with its brilliant accompanying eulogy:

''Here five foot deep lyes on his back''
''A cobbler, starmonger, and quack…''
''Who to the stars in pure good-will'',
''Does to his best look upward still.''
''Weep all you customers that use''
''His pills, his almanacks or shoes.''

When Partridge published a letter proclaiming that he had not in fact died, Swift announced that his letter was false, as ''"they were sure no man alive ever to writ such damned stuff as this."'' Partridge's intense unpopularity among Church supporters, those whose deaths he had falsely predicted, anti-Whigs, and those who felt his "astrology" was in reality quackery kept the hoax going long after Swift finally dispensed with it. Partridge reportedly suffered from the effects of the hoax for the rest of his life.''The Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Swift'', Cambridge University Press. .

Books

*''Partridge's advice to the Protestants of England'', 1678 *''Mikropanastron, or, An astrological vade mecum briefly teaching the whole art of astrology'', 1679. Facsimile reprint, 2005. ::A textbook of traditional horary, electional and natal astrology. The book included several sets of aphorisms including the famous ''

Centiloquium The ''Centiloquium'' (= "one hundred sayings"), also called ''Ptolemy's Centiloquium'', is a collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology and astrological rules. It is first recorded at the start of the tenth century CE, when a commentary ...

'', the 100 sayings attributed to

. *''Mercurius coelestis, being an almanack for the year of the world's redemption, 1682...'', 1682 *''Merlinus redivivus, being an almanack for the year of our redemption, 1684...', 1684 *''Opus Reformatum: Treatise of Astrology in which The Common Errors of that Art are Modestly Exposed and Rejected'', 1693. Reprinted, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Partridge, John 1644 births 1710s deaths English astrologers People from East Sheen English astrological writers Leiden University alumni English male writers