Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 5.djvu/60

52 still about, and is pleased to call itself Partridge, Mr. Bickerstaff does not think himself any way answerable for that. Neither had the said carcase any right to beat the poor boy, who happened to pass by it in the street, crying, "a full and true account of Dr. Partridge's death," &c.

Thirdly, Mr. Partridge pretends to tell fortunes, and recover stolen goods; which all the parish says, he must do by conversing with the devil, and other evil spirits: and no wise man will ever allow, he could converse personally with either, till after he was dead.

Fourthly, I will plainly prove him to be dead, out of his own almanack for this year, and from the very passage, which he produces to make us think him alive. He there says, "he is not only now alive, but was also alive upon that very 29th of March, which I foretold he should 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 sophistry of his argument. He dares not assert he was alive ever since that 29th of March, but that he "is now alive, and was so 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 be since revived, I leave the world to judge. This indeed is perfect cavilling, and I am ashamed to dwell any longer upon it.

Fifthly, I will appeal to Mr. Partridge himself, whether it be probable I could have been so indiscreet, to begin my predictions with the only falsehood, that ever was pretended to be in them; and this in an affair at home, where I had so many opportunities