plain, views were had of the coast of Zealand six miles 

 away, and of the broken mainland of Sweden only half that 

 distance. 



The company had not been drawn to this beautiful spot 

 for the purpose of hunting, nor for the enjoyment of the 

 beauties of nature, but solely in the interests of science ; they 

 stood near the foundations of a great building, only the 

 ground plan of which was visible, while nearby lackeys in 

 rich liveries arranged a substantial breakfast of which foreign 

 wines formed an agreeable part. 



The principal personages in this group were Frederick II. 

 King of Denmark and Norwa}-, then in the prime of life, and 

 the celebrated astronomer T3'cho Brahe, together with Charles 

 Danze, the French Ambassador, and members of the Danish 

 court interested in the advancement of science. The occasion 

 was the laying of the corner-stone of the magnificent structure 

 known as Uraniborg, or "City of the Heavens," destined to 

 become under Tycho Brahe the centre of astronomical learning. 

 Brahe was then just thirty years of age and had already 

 gained an enviable position in the scientific world; a native 

 of Knudsdorp, near Helsingborg, he was sent by his uncle 

 and guardian to study philosophy and rhetoric at the Uni- 

 versity of Copenhagen with a view to entering the profession 

 of law, but an event occurred on the 21st of August, 1560, 

 after the young student had been sixteen months at College, 

 which aroused in him an interest in astronomy that changed 

 his whole career. This was the long predicted eclipse of the 

 sun, a phenomenon believed at that time to exert direct 

 influence on the destiny of nations and the fortunes of indi- 

 viduals, and it is thought that Brahe was attracted to the 

 study of celestial bodies by the claims of astrology quite as 

 much as by the scientific aspects of astronomy. While duti- 

 fully reading law all day with a preceptor, at night he secretly 



75 



