thumb|The title page to Swift's 1735 Works, depicting the author in the Dean's chair, receiving the thanks of Ireland. The Horatian motto reads, , "I have completed a monument more lasting than brass." The 'brass' is a pun, for William Wood's halfpennies (alloyed with brass) lie scattered at his feet. Cherubim award Swift a poet's laurel. In 1708, a cobbler named John Partridge published a popular almanac of astrological predictions. Because Partridge falsely determined the deaths of several church officials, Swift attacked Partridge in Predictions for the Ensuing Year by Isaac Bickerstaff, a parody predicting that Partridge would die on 29 March. Swift followed up with a pamphlet issued on 30 March claiming that Partridge had in fact died, which was widely believed despite Partridge's statements to the contrary. According to other sources,Murry, op. cit., p. 150, quotes Steele's Preface to the collected edition of the first four volumes of The Tatler: "I have in the dedication of the first volume made my acknowledgements to Dr. Swift, whose pleasant writings in the name of Bickerstaff created an inclination in the town towards anything that could appear in the same disguise." Richard Steele used the persona of Isaac Bickerstaff, and was the one who wrote about the "death" of John Partridge and published it in The Spectator, not Jonathan Swift.
thumb|The title page to Swift's 1735 Works, depicting the author in the Dean's chair, receiving the thanks of Ireland. The Horatian motto reads, , "I have completed a monument more lasting than brass." The 'brass' is a pun, for William Wood's halfpennies (alloyed with brass) lie scattered at his feet. Cherubim award Swift a poet's laurel. In 1708, a cobbler named John Partridge published a popular almanac of astrological predictions. Because Partridge falsely determined the deaths of several church officials, Swift attacked Partridge in Predictions for the Ensuing Year by Isaac Bickerstaff, a parody predicting that Partridge would die on 29 March. Swift followed up with a pamphlet issued on 30 March claiming that Partridge had in fact died, which was widely believed despite Partridge's statements to the contrary. According :to other sources,Mur,ry, op. cit., p. 150, quotes Steele's Preface to the collected edition of the first four volumes of The Tatler: "I have in the dedication of the first volume made my acknowledgements to Dr. Swift, whose pleasant writings in the name of Bickersta,ff created an inclination in the town towards anything that could appear in the same disguise." Richard Steele used the persona of Isaac Bic,kerstaff, and was the one who wrote about the "death" of. John Partridge and published it in The Spectator, not Jonathan Swift.