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How did the Bickerstaff pamphlets affect astrologer John Partridge?
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Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift, detail of an oil painting by Charles Jervas, c. 1718; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The Bickerstaff pamphlets, published by Jonathan Swift under the pseudonym "Isaac Bickerstaff," effectively ended the career of the popular astrologer John Partridge.1
Swift achieved this by first issuing a prophecy of Partridgeâs death and subsequently publishing a follow-up that described the event in such circumstantial detail that it rendered the astrologer's professional reputation untenable.1