Isaac Bickerstaff
Encyclopedia
Isaac Bickerstaff Esq was a pseudonym used by Jonathan Swift
as part of a hoax to predict the death of then famous Almanac
–maker and astrologer
John Partridge
.
“All Fools Day” (now known as April Fools Day which falls on the 1st of April) was Swift’s favorite of holidays and he often used this day to aim his satirically biting wit at non-believers in an attempt to “make sin and folly bleed.” Disgruntled by Partridge’s sarcastic attack about the “infallible Church” written in his 1708 issue of Merlinus Almanac, Swift projected carefully 3 letters and one Eulogy as an elaborate plan to “predict” Partridge’s “infallible death” to be revealed on April 1st, All Fools Day.
The first of the three letters, Predictions for the Year 1708, published in January of 1708, predicts, among other things, the death of Partridge by a “raging fever.” The second letter, The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions, published in March of 1708, Swift writes not as Bickerstaff but as a “man employed in the Revenue
” where he “confirms” the imaginary Bickerstaff’s prediction. To accompany The Accomplishments Swift also publishes an Elegy
for Partridge in which, typical of Swift’s satire, he blames not only Partridge, but those who purchase the Almanacs as well:
The hoax, gaining immense popularity, plagued Partridge till the real end of his life. Mourners, who believed him to be dead, often kept him awake at night crying outside his window. Accounts of an undertaker arriving at his house to arrange drapes for the mourning, an elegy being printed and even a gravestone being carved, all culminate to Partridge publishing a letter in hopes to have a last word on the matter and proclaim (and reclaim) himself as living. In 1709 Swift, writing as Bickerstaff for the last time, publishes A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff in which he abandons any real attempt to maintain the hoax. Bickerstaff counter-argues Partridge's letter of proclamation disputing, “ They were sure no man alive ever to writ such damned stuff as this.” He goes on to sarcastically reason that “death is defined by all Philosophers [as a] separation of the soul and body. [Partridge’s wife] has gone about for some time to every Alley in the neighborhood…that her husband had neither life nor soul in him.”
bolstered the release of his new paper The Tatler by naming the fictitious Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. as editor. The Tatler had occasional contributions from Swift, although largely written by Steele and Joseph Addison
.
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
as part of a hoax to predict the death of then famous Almanac
Almanac
An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, and tide tables, containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc...
–maker and astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
John Partridge
John Partridge (astrologer)
John Partridge was an English astrologer. He was also the author and publisher of a number of astrological almanacs and books.-Partridge's life:...
.
“All Fools Day” (now known as April Fools Day which falls on the 1st of April) was Swift’s favorite of holidays and he often used this day to aim his satirically biting wit at non-believers in an attempt to “make sin and folly bleed.” Disgruntled by Partridge’s sarcastic attack about the “infallible Church” written in his 1708 issue of Merlinus Almanac, Swift projected carefully 3 letters and one Eulogy as an elaborate plan to “predict” Partridge’s “infallible death” to be revealed on April 1st, All Fools Day.
The first of the three letters, Predictions for the Year 1708, published in January of 1708, predicts, among other things, the death of Partridge by a “raging fever.” The second letter, The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions, published in March of 1708, Swift writes not as Bickerstaff but as a “man employed in the Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
” where he “confirms” the imaginary Bickerstaff’s prediction. To accompany The Accomplishments Swift also publishes an Elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
for Partridge in which, typical of Swift’s satire, he blames not only Partridge, but those who purchase the Almanacs as well:
- Here, five Foot deep, lies on his Back,
- A Cobler, 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;
- And you that did your Fortunes seek,
- Step to his Grave but once a Week:
- This Earth which bears his Body’s Print,
- You’ll find has so much Vertue in’t,
- That I durst pawn my Ears ’twill tell
- Whate’er concerns you full as well,
- In Physick, Stolen Goods, or Love,
- As he himself could, when above.
The hoax, gaining immense popularity, plagued Partridge till the real end of his life. Mourners, who believed him to be dead, often kept him awake at night crying outside his window. Accounts of an undertaker arriving at his house to arrange drapes for the mourning, an elegy being printed and even a gravestone being carved, all culminate to Partridge publishing a letter in hopes to have a last word on the matter and proclaim (and reclaim) himself as living. In 1709 Swift, writing as Bickerstaff for the last time, publishes A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff in which he abandons any real attempt to maintain the hoax. Bickerstaff counter-argues Partridge's letter of proclamation disputing, “ They were sure no man alive ever to writ such damned stuff as this.” He goes on to sarcastically reason that “death is defined by all Philosophers [as a] separation of the soul and body. [Partridge’s wife] has gone about for some time to every Alley in the neighborhood…that her husband had neither life nor soul in him.”
The Tatler
Later in 1709, Richard SteeleRichard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
bolstered the release of his new paper The Tatler by naming the fictitious Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. as editor. The Tatler had occasional contributions from Swift, although largely written by Steele and Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
.
External links
- Isaac Bickerstaff, physician and astrologer by Sir Richard Steele
- Museum of Hoaxes: The Predictions of Isaac Bickerstaff
- The Extraordinary Astrologer Isaac Bickerstaff from damninteresting.com