published. The following inscription is engraved on a fiat black marble stone raised about four feet from the ground: Johannes Partridge, Astrologus, et Medicinæ Doctor, natus est apud East-Sheen in comitatu Surrey, 18 Januarii 1644, et mortuus est Londini 24 Junii 1715. Creatus est Medicina Doctor, I have searched the register of this parish, of which EastSheen makes a part, but do not find his name. Indeed, there are but two baptisms registered in the year 1644, though in the year before there are twenty; in 1645, and 1646, there was only one in each year, in 1647, there are four, and in the year following more. So that during the height of the great rebellion, the register seems to have been very irregularly kept.* It appears that Partridge was physician to Charles the Second, and I have a translation by him of the Thesaurus Medico-Chymicus of Mynsicht, printed for Awnsham Churchill, in 1682, in the title-page of which he styles himself Physician to his Majesty. It is dedicated to Madam Frances Jermyn, of St. Alban's, and introduced by two commendatory poems by William Hide and John Gibbon, blue mantle herald at arms. The latter mentions an improvement of Lilly's Book of Astrology. Why he was not made physician to James the Second, may be imputed to his political principles, because it appears that he was retained by William and Mary in that capacity. In 1708, when Partridge was sixty-four years of age, Swift published, under the name of Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq. predictions for that year, intending to ridicule the Almanackmakers and pretenders to astrology, levelling his satire particularly at Dr. P. whose death he foretold would happen on the 29th of March in that year. This was followed by the "Accomplishment of the first of Mr. Bickerstaffe's predictions, being an account of the death of Mr. P. the almanack-maker, upon the 29th instant, in a letter to a person of honour." Herein he makes him declare himself a cobbler *This, we believe, was generally the case. E. and a non-conformist, and say, "I wish I may not have done more mischief by my physic than my astrology, though I had some good receipts from my grandmother, and my own compositions were such as I thought could at least do no hurt." Partridge, in his almanack for 1709, asserts (if Swift has not misquoted), that "he is not only now alive, but was likewise alive upon that very 29th of March when Bickerstaffe had foretold he should die." Swift takes advantage of this tautology (for it hardly can be called by a worse name), pays him off very wittily in his " Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq." and charges him with beating the poor boy, who happened to pass by him in the street, crying, "A full and true account of Dr. Partridge's death," &c. From which circumstance, whether the beating was imaginary, or not, we may collect the manner in which these papers were originally published. In his Grub-street "Elegy on the supposed Death of Partridge, the Almanack Maker," written in 1708; after telling us in a note, that he was "a cobbler," he with much humour shews what analogy There is 'twixt cobbling and astrology, It is remarkable that in this parish lived Dr. Dee, a famous mathematician and reputed conjuror, whose memory must have been fresh with people living when Partridge was young, and not improbably might lead him to the study of astrology. 1785, Feb. D. P. XXXIX. Anecdotes of ANDREW JACKSON, an intelligent Dealer in Old Books. MR. URBAN, I SEND you a bit of humble biography: an account of a man well known to many dealers in old books, and black letter. This was Andrew Jackson, who for more than forty years kept a shop in Clare-court, Drury-lane. Here, like another Magliabechi, amidst dust and cobwebs, he indulged his appetite for reading; legends and romances, history and poetry, were indiscriminately his favourite pursuits. Un * like a contemporary brother of the trade, he did not make the curiosity of his customers a foundation of a collection for his own use, and refuse to part with an article, where he found an eagerness in a purchaser to obtain it. Where he met with a rarity, he would retain the same till he had satisfied his own desires in the perusal of it, and then part with it agreeable to his promise. Though placed in an humble rank in life, he was easy, cheerful, and facetious. If he did not abound, his wants were few, and he secured enough to carry him to his journey's end. He was a retainer to the Muses, but rather traversed the plains than ascended any steps up the hill of Parnassus. In 1740, he published the first Book of Paradise Lost in rhyme and ten years afterwards, with somewhat better success, "Matrimonial Scenes; consisting of the Seaman's Tale, the Manciple's Tale, the Character of the Wife of Bath, the Tale of the Wife of Bath, and her Five Husbands. All modernized from Chaucer. By A. Jackson. The first refiner of our native lays Chanted these tales in Second Richard's days; Lond. 1750, 8vo." The contents of his catalogues of the years 1756, 1757, 1759, and one without date, as specified in their titles, were in rhyme. In 1751, in conjunction with Charles Marsh, he republished, as Shakespeare's, a "Briefe Conceipte touching the Commonweale of this Realme of England, originally printed in 1581." He quitted his business about a year before his death, which happened on the 25th of July, 1778, having completed his eighty-third year the 14th of May preceding. 1785, March. Yours, &c. N. E. *This was John King, of Moorfields, whose curious library, consisting of ten days' sale, was sold by auction by Baker, in April, 1760. XL. Biographical Anecdotes of EPHRAIM CHAMBERs. MR. URBAN, I SEND you some hasty outlines of the life of the late Mr. Ephraim Chambers, which, if I had not wanted time, I should not have wanted inclination to have transmitted to you sooner, and in a better dress. The facts, however, may be relied on; and, if they afford amusement to any of your readers, my end is answered, and I shall think myself sufficiently compensated for my trouble. In the month of January last, some particulars of Mr. Chamber's life were published in the Universal Magazine, which, as far as I can guess, were collected from some papers in the hands of the booksellers; the writer of that article has, however, been misinformed in several instances, to rectify which, as well as to gratify the curiosity of the readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, are the motives which induce me to draw the ensuing sketch. Yours, &c. M MR. EPHRAIM CHAMBERS was the youngest of three brothers; he was born at Kendal, in Westmoreland. His parents, who are still remembered with respect in that neighbourhood, occupied a small farm of their own at that place, spending an unambitious life in a harmless and humble obscurity. They were not quakers, as has been affirmed, neither were any of their children educated in that persuasion. He was sent early to Kendal School, where he received a good classical education, and, by cultivating the rudiments of knowledge, laid a suitable foundation for those studies which afterwards distinguished him through life. His father, who had already placed his eldest son at Oxford, and whose income was by no means sufficient to support a second in the same expensive line, determined to bring up his youngest son Ephraim (who was making a considerable progress in his learning) to trade; and he was accordingly, at a proper age, sent to London, and spent some time in the shop of a mechanic in the city; but having a perfect aversion to the business, and, young as he was, having formed ideas not at all reconcileable to manual labour, he was removed from thence, and tried at another business, which was full as little conformable to his inclinations; and when that attempt would not succeed, he was at last sent to Mr. Senex, the globe-maker, where he served a regular apprenticeship. This place was exactly suited to his disposition, as he had here abundant opportunities of gratifying his thirst for literature, a passion which daily became more predominant in him, and which his master, encouraged partly by the hopes of making him useful, and partly by a more generous motive, resolved to gratify: so that, during his apprenticeship, he was very seldom seen behind the counter: and indeed his labours in the closet turned to a much better account, and amply repaid his master for this indulgence. During this period he obtained a perfect knowledge of most of the modern languages; and here it was he first discovered the sparks of that genius which afterwards lighted up the torch of information to posterity, and made him so conspicuous in the republic of letters. From this account it will easily be concluded, that Mr. Chambers made no considerable improvement in the technical part of the business; his mind was too much engrossed by his studies to permit him to pay much attention to mechanical acquisitions; so that, when his apprenticeship expired, he was indeed a good geographer, but a very indifferent globe-maker. As soon as he left Senex he took chambers in Gray's Inn, which he kept as long as he lived, and where he generally resided. After some years of severe application, in which his constitution sustained an irrecoverable shock, he published the first edition of his Cyclopædia, a work which the mathematician places with his Euclid, the mariner with his Compass, and the divine with his Concordance, and indeed all professions seem to look upon it as the most valuable book in their collection, and in which originality and perfection seem more closely connected than in any other publication. It was dedicated to his late Majesty; and Mr. Chambers had the honour of presenting copies of the work in very elegant bindings to the King and Queen, which produced him the smile of royal approbation. Some years afterwards, when he was in France for the recovery of his health, he received an intimation, that if he would publish a new edition there, and dedicate it to Louis the Fifteenth, he would be liberally rewarded; but these proposals his British heart received with disdain, and he rejected the teazing solicitation of men who were provoking him to a sordid retraction of the compliments he had paid to his lawful sovereign. His life was one continued scene of improvement, and |