402 



BRAKE. 



Brahe. During the few days which he spent in the company 

 ~^r of Tycho, he examined, with the- curiosity natural to 

 youth, all the apparatus ut the observatory ; and having 

 shewn a particular fondness for a gilt tin globe, con- 

 taining a representation of the starry heavens, Tycho 

 presented it to the young king, and received in re- 

 turn a gold chain as a token of his unalterable at- 

 tachment. But the favour of princes was on this 

 occasion what it always has been, a gift during the 

 pleasure of those who surround and flatter them. 

 The envy of Tycho's great reputation, and perhaps 

 a personal feeling excited by the violence of his 

 temper, or the keenness of his satire, instigated the 

 advisers of the young king to forget the hospitality 

 which he received at Uraniburg, and to deprive 

 Tycho of his pension, and of the canonry of Ros- 

 child. The minister Walchendorf, a name blackened 

 in the eye of science, will descend to posterity load- 

 ed with the execrations of every wise and virtuous 

 man. 



Being thus deprived of the means of supporting his 

 establishment in Huen, Tycho quitted that favourite 

 retreat, endeared to science by the importance of his 

 labours, and removed to Copenhagen, where he wait- 

 ed for the earliest opportunity of leaving for ever an 

 ungrateful country. * With his wife and children, 

 and instruments, he landed at Rostock, and spent a 

 year at Wansbeck with his friend Henry Rantzau or 

 Ranzovius, who published in 1600 a treatise on astro- 

 logy, and who was intimately acquainted with the 

 Emperor Rodolph II. a great amateur of alchemy 

 and astrology. Before our author left Uraniburg, 

 he completed his work, entitled, Tychonis Brahe Dani 

 Epistolarum astronomicorum libri, quorum primus hie 

 ilhistriss. et laudutiss. prlncipis Giilic/mi Hassia? 

 Landtgravii, ac ipsius mathematics literas unaquc 

 responsa ad singular, compleclitur. Uranibiirgi ex 

 officina iypugrapliica autkoris 1596 ; and during his 

 stay with Rantzau, he published his Astronomice in- 

 ftauratte Mcchanica. Fol. Wandesburgi 1598,-j- 



The last of these works was dedicated to the em- 

 peror Rodolph, as a preparatory step to the personal 

 introduction to that monarch, which Tycho was pro- 

 mised by his friend Rantzau. The wishes of our 

 author, however, were anticipated by a flattering in- 

 vitation from the emperor, which Tycho gratefully 

 accepted ; and he repaired to Prague in 1599, where he 

 met with the most welcome reception. This gene- 

 rous patron of merit erected, in the neighbourhood 

 of Prague, a commodious observatory for his friend, 

 and settled upon him an annual pension of 3000 

 crowns. Tycho now looked forward to better days. 

 He renewed with delight the labours which he had 

 so unwillingly relinquished, and had the singular fe- 

 licity of having for his pupils two such celebrated 

 men as Kepler and Longomontanus. His spirits, 

 however, were broken with sufferings and disappoint- 

 ment ; and neither the continued kindness of his be- 



nefactor, nor the society of such able pupils, could Bra- 

 sooth his agitated mind. The severity of his studies ' **!' 

 had begun to affect his bodily strength ; and finding 

 himself encircled with new friends in a distant land, 

 the melancholy remembrance of former attachments, 

 which even the ingratitude of his country could not 

 extinguish, contributed to prey upon his mind. The 

 most trifling occurrences were magnified by his dis- 

 eased imagination into prodigies sent from heaven ; 

 and from his sallies of wit and pleasantry, his mind 

 frequently turned to the contemplation of his latter 

 end. A suppression of urine, attended by the most 

 agonising pains, induced a violent fever and a tempo- 

 rary delirium, during which he often exclaimed " Nc 

 frnstra vixisse videar." These violent paroxysms 

 left him in a state of extreme debility, but in the full 

 possession of his mental powers. He saw that death 

 was inevitable : He composed an extempore copy of 

 verses : He exhorted his pupils to persevere in their 

 labours : He conversed with Kepler on some of the 

 profoundest points of astronomy ; and he mingled 

 with these amusements, frequent acts of piety and 

 devotion. In such a frame of mind, he expired with- 

 out the least symptom of pain, on the 2-tth of Octo- 

 ber, in the 55th year of his age. A monument, con- 

 taining the figure of a knight, in rude sculpture, was 

 erected to his memory in the Tein church at Prague, 

 wherehisremainsweredeposited; and his wife, with two 

 sons and four daughters, were left to lament his loss. 



Tycho was a man of the ordinary size, with light 

 red hair, and a pleasing manly countenance. In his 

 temper he was irritable and passionate, and even sul- 

 len and unbending. He possessed an unfortunate 

 turn for satirical invective, without the power of 

 bearing the raillery of others. The misfortunes of 

 his life were perhaps owing to this unhappy propen- 

 sity, which frequently exposed him to the enmity of 

 those who suffered from his wit. But we have no 

 means of ascertaining whether this licence which he 

 gave to his tongue, was a foible or a vice. His reli- 

 gious principles were too well founded, we think, to 

 permit the supposition, that malice was in any case 

 mingled with his satire. { 



The merits of Tycho as an astronomer have alrea- 

 dy been fully estimated in another part of our work.$ 

 His miscellaneous labours have not yet fallen under 

 our notice. That a philosopher like Tycho, addict- 

 ed to the study of the most demonstrative of the 

 sciences, should have indulged in the pursuits of al- 

 chemy, and in the study of judicial astrology, must 

 be ascribed, not only to the character of the times in 

 which he lived, but to a natural love of the marvel- 

 lous, which seems to have been predominant in his 

 mind. Even at Uraniburg, in the midst of his glory, 

 his greatest delight was to astonish his visitors by 

 making his pupils appear before them without any 

 apparent communication. If he met with an old wo- 

 man or a hare, he durst not prosecute his journey ; 



It is said by some of his biographers, that he resumed his observations at Copenhagen ; and that Walchendorf intimated 

 to him the king's order to discontinue them ; an order equivalent to a sentence of banishment. 



) M. Messier has at present in his possession the copy of this work which Tycho sent to Rantzau. It is covered with satin, 

 and the portrait of Tycho is illuminated. 



$ " Nihil fictum ; nihil simulatum in ipso ; sed scaphum scapham apellabat ; unde omne quod sustinuit odium." Jr- 

 ius, Fun. Oral. 

 See History of ASTRONOMY, p. 595, 596. 



