For my own part, although I believe no man has less faith in these matters, yet I shall wait with some impatience, and not without expectation, the fulfilling of Mr. BICKERSTAFF's second prediction, that the Cardinal De NOAILLES is to die upon the 4th of April [1708]; and if that should be verified as exactly as this of poor PARTRIDGE, I must own I shall be wholly surprised, and at a loss, and infallibly expect the accomplishment of all the rest. [In the original broadside, there are Deaths with darts, winged hour-glasses, crossed marrow-bones, &c.] [JONATHAN SWIFT.] _An Elegy on Mr. PATRIGE, the_ Almanack _maker, who died on the 29th of this instant March_, 1708. [Original broadside in the British Museum, C. 39. k./74.] Well, 'tis as BICKERSTAFF has guest; Though we all took it for a jest; PATRIGE is dead! nay more, he died Ere he could prove the good Squire lied! Strange, an Astrologer should die Without one wonder in the sky Not one of all his crony stars To pay their duty at his hearse! No meteor, no eclipse appeared, No comet with a flaming beard! The sun has rose and gone to bed Just as if PATRIGE 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 wondered what analogy There is 'twixt[11] Cobbling and Astrology? How PATRIGE made his optics rise From a shoe-sole, to reach the skies? A list, the cobblers' temples ties, To keep the hair out of their eyes; From whence, 'tis plain, the diadem That Princes wear, derives from them: And therefore crowns are now-a-days Adorned with golden stars and rays; Which plainly shews the near alliance 'Twixt Cobbling and the Planet science. Besides, that slow-paced sign _Bo-otes_ As 'tis miscalled; we know not who 'tis? But PATRIGE ended all disputes; He knew his trade! and called it _Boots_![12] The Horned Moon which heretofore Upon their shoes, the Romans wore, Whose wideness kept their toes from corns, And whence we claim our Shoeing Horns, Shews how the art of Cobbling bears A near resemblance to the Spheres. A scrap of parchment hung by Geometry, A great refinement in Barometry, Can, like the stars, foretell the weather: And what is parchment else, but leather? Which an Astrologer might use Either for _Almanacks_ or shoes.