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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: others or myself: and I think it is no very unreasonable request,
that men would please to suspend their judgments till then. I was
once of the opinion with those who despise all predictions from
the stars, till the year 1686, a man of quality shew'd me,
written in his album, That the most learned astronomer, Captain
H. assured him, he would never believe any thing of the stars'
influence, if there were not a great revolution in England in the
year 1688. Since that time I began to have other thoughts, and
after eighteen years diligent study and application, I think I
have no reason to repent of my pains. I shall detain the reader
no longer, than to let him know, that the account I design to
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