TWICKENHAM TYCHSEN. 



ror 



triii (Louvain, 1827), that the Roman and Athe- 

 nian constitutions and legislation were essentially 

 different from each other, and that no traces of 

 Grecian law are discoverable in the Twelve Tables. 

 Cicero and the Greek writers are also entirely 

 silent as to the supposed Grecian origin of this 

 earliest Western code. 



TWICKENHAM; a populous village on the 

 Thames, about ten and a half miles from London. 

 Between Richmond bridge and this village is a 

 rural walk, on the border of the river ; and pro- 

 bably no promenade of a similar extent, in any part 

 of England, presents a display of scenery so soft 

 and so highly cultivated. The margin of the 

 Thames is lined with stately dwellings, whose or- 

 namental grounds descend to the water's edge ; 

 among which was the residence of Pope. The house 

 was not large, but Pope took great delight in embel- 

 lishing the grounds. The weeping willow, planted 

 by him, perished in 1801, and another has been 

 planted on the spot. Here he translated a part of 

 the Iliad, and wrote the Dunciad, the Essay on Man, 

 the Epistles, c., and hence are dated the greater 

 number of his letters; here, also, he died. His 

 villa was taken down by baroness Howe, in 1807, 

 and a new dwelling erected about one hundred 

 yards from the site. His grotto has been stripped 

 of its most curious spars and minerals, by persons 

 desirous of procuring memorials of the poet. 

 Strawberry hill (Walpole's villa), and its fine col- 

 Joction of virtu once formed an attraction of the vi- 

 cinity. In the church of Twickenham, Pope and 

 his parents are interred. Population of the parish 

 of Twickenham in 1841, 5,208. 



TWILIGHT ; the faint light diffused through 

 the atmosphere by the sun, some time before rising, 

 and after setting. The atmosphere, by means of 

 the vapours and clouds, refracts the rays of the 

 sun, and turns them down on the unilluminated 

 parts of the earth. The morning twilight begins, 

 and the evening twilight ends, when the sun is 

 about eighteen degrees below the horizon. When 

 he is below that point, the smallest stars are visible 

 to the naked eye, or it is entirely dark. The dura- 

 tion of the twilight is various. In the equatorial 

 regions it lasts, during the equinox, one hour and 

 twelve minutes, and increases as the sun recedes 

 from the equator. At the poles, where there are 

 six months day and six months night, the twilight 

 continues about two months, so that a great part 

 of the half year's night is illuminated. It is doubly 

 useful, since it shortens the night, and prevents, at 

 the same time, the injurious effect, upon our eyes, 

 of the sudden change from light to darkness. 



TWIN; one of two young produced at a birth, 

 by an animal that ordinarily produces but one. It 

 is calculated that of eighty human births, one is of 

 twins. Whether twins are begotten contempora- 

 neously or successively is doubtful. Some exami- 

 nations seem to render the latter more probable. 

 Twins are often as different in body and disposition 

 as other persons. They are often weakly after 

 birth, and require especial care. Many rules are to 

 be observed, during the birth of twins, which this 

 is not the place to state. In astronomy, Twins, or 

 Gemini, is a constellation of the zodiac, so called 

 from the Dioscuri. See Castor and Pollux. 



TYBURN TURNPIKE, at the west end of 

 Oxford street, London, was noted for the public ex- 

 ecutions of metropolitan malefactors which long 

 took place near it. The turnpike was removed in 1S29. 



TYCHO (Tygc) BR AHE, a celebrated astrono. 



mer, descended from an old and noble family, was 

 born, in 1546, upon his father's estate at Knub 

 Strup, in Schonen, or Scania, a province then sub- 

 ject to Denmark. From early youth, he showed 

 an inclination for the mathematical sciences. When 

 he was fourteen years old, an eclipse of the sun, 

 which took place exactly at the time predicted by 

 the astronomers, made such an impression upon him, 

 that he afterwards devoted himself with ardour to 

 astronomy. He was sent to the university of Leip. 

 sic to study law, but employed himself, while there, 

 almost exclusively in astronomical observations. 

 After his return to Denmark, he married a peasant 

 girl, upon his father's estate, and afterwards tra- 

 velled to Italy and Germany, but refused the invi- 

 tation of several princes, who wished to engage 

 him in their service, upon advantageous terms. 

 Frederic II., king of Denmark, gave him a consi- 

 derable salary, and granted him for life the small 

 island of Hween (liven), lying in the Sound. 

 Here Tycho erected, at the king's expense, the 

 castle of Uranienborg, and an observatory. In 

 this retreat, where he was visited by various 

 princes, he framed that system of the universe 

 which is yet known by his name. He assumed the 

 principle that the earth remains fixed and immova- 

 able in the centre of the universe, and that the sun 

 and all the heavenly bodies revolve round it ; but 

 succeeding astronomers have rejected Brahe's sys- 

 tem, and adopted that of Copernicus, (q. v.) We 

 are indebted to his observations for a more correct 

 catalogue of the fixed stars, for several important 

 discoveries respecting the motions of the moon 

 and the comets, and the refraction of the rays of 

 light (q. v.), and for important improvements in as- 

 tronomical instruments : they served also as the 

 basis of Kepler's astronomical labours. Tycho was 

 likewise a skilful chemist, and found in poetry his 

 recreation from severer studies. He was by no 

 means free from the predilection of his time in 

 favour of astrology, and had a propensity to super- 

 stition. His impetous character, and his fondness 

 for satire, made him many enemies, who prejudiced 

 Christian IV., the successor of Frederic II., against 

 him, so that he was deprived of his pension. On 

 this account, he accepted, in 1597, an invitation of 

 the emperor Rodolph II., who was a great friend 

 to astronomy and astrology, to come to his court 

 at Prague. Here he received a considerable salary 

 and many aids in the prosecution of his studies ; 

 but he died in 1601. Tycho was, notwithstanding 

 his faults and weaknesses, a remarkable man for the 

 age in which he lived. His works are written in 

 Latin. Such of his poems as are yet extant, do 

 not possess much poetical merit. The emperor 

 Rodolph purchased his expensive astronomical and 

 other instruments ; but they were mostly destroyed 

 after the battle on the Weisseberg, near Prague, in 

 1620. A large sextant alone remains in Prague. 

 The famous brass celestial globe, which was six 

 feet in diameter, and cost about 3500 dollars, re- 

 turned to Copenhagen, after various adventures, 

 but perished in the great fire of 1728. Of the 

 castle of Uranienborg, on the island of Hween, 

 only the ruins are now to be seen, in digging among 

 which, in 1823, Tycho's study was discovered. 

 A fuller account of the life of Tycho, and a cata- 

 logue of his writings, are to be found in a work en- 

 titled Tycho Brake, &c., an essay by Helfrecht 

 (Hof, 1798). 



TYCHSEN, OLAUS GERHARD, professor of the 

 Oriental tongues at Rostock, was born in the duchy 

 2 Y2 



