26 



HISTORY OF ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVK1IY. 



side of which was three hundred feet, and had in the middle stately gateways, with resi 

 dences for servants. The instruments of the observatory were upon a corresponding 



scale. A celestial globe, upon which Tycho fixed the positions of the stars he catalogued, 

 stood upon a pedestal five feet high, the diameter of the ball being no less than six. His 

 whole apparatus is supposed to have cost upwards of two hundred thousand crowns. 

 Here, in his castle, in the severe climate of the Baltic, for twenty-one years, he resided, 

 observed and wassailed, a favourite poodle being the constant companion of his studies. 

 Abroad, his fame extended far and wide. Kings visited his sanctuary. Our James I. 

 spent eight days beneath his roof upon going to Denmark to attend his bride. Misfor 

 tune, however, came soon after the death of his royal patron, and outward glory departed 

 from Tycho. The envy of the nobles fomented dislike to the celebrated astronomer in 

 the mind of the successor to the throne, and a personal squabble with the minister, who 

 struck his poodle, led to his being deprived of his appointments, and removal from the 

 island. He finally quitted his country, but Uraniberg had obtained a firm hold upon his 

 affections, and separation from it took away the charm from life. After various wander 

 ings, he settled at Prague under the patronage of the emperor Rudolph. There he died 

 in the first year of the seventeenth century, leaving a name second to none in point of 

 pure observation. Hoene was ceded to the Swedes fifty-seven years after Tycho's death 

 the castle of the heavens was totally demolished its site became a green field, and even 

 that has been blotted from remembrance. 



However bitter and disastrous to himself the exile of Tycho from his northern home, it 

 was fortunate for science that it took place, as it threw into his way the enthusiastic and 

 indefatigable Keppler, the very man in his maturity to seize hold of his materials, and 

 draw a philosophical deduction from them. The Danish astronomer, who had previously 

 seen one of his works, invited him to become his assistant at Prague. He appreciated his 

 genius, hospitably supplied the wants of his poverty, taught him the habit of rigid inves- 



