COP 



201 



COP 



■ duced specimens of printing equal to those of any other 

 country. The large folio work, Flora Danica, and the 

 Rttris Otia, are worthy of the first cities of Europe ; 

 and an edition of the Four Evangelists, lately printed 

 in Greek, is not inferior to that of either Foulis or 

 Baskerville. The University of Copenhagen was found- 

 ed by Christian I. in 1 479, and has been richly endow- 

 ed by his successors. It consists of four colleges, and 

 is generally attended by five or six hundred students. 

 The professors have liberal salaries; and 168 poor scho- 

 lars are provided with lodgings, fire-wood, and three 

 shillings sterling a week. Its library contained about 

 4000 volumes, chiefly upon theology and jurisprudence, 

 besides about 2000 manuscripts. But the greatest part 

 of its buildings Was destroyed by the British bombard- 

 ment in 1807. 



About a mile from the city is the national tomb of 

 the gallant men who fell in the battle of Copenhagen 

 roads on the 2d of April 1801. It is a pyramidal hil- 

 lock, planted with sapling poplars, with tomb-stones in 

 front, recording the names of the officers who fell, and 

 their respective ships. It is inclosed with a square pal- 

 lisado ; and an obelisk of grey marble, standing on a 

 pedestal of granite, bears the following inscription: 

 " To the memory of those who fell/or their country, their 

 grateful fellow-citizens raise this monument April 2. 1 801 ;" 

 and beneath, on a white marble tablet, under a wreath 

 of laurel, oak, and cypress, is engraven, " The wreath 

 which the country bestows never withers over the grave of 

 the fallen warrior'' 



Besides the cathedral, which was destroyed during the 

 last siege, there are in this city 20 churches, one French 

 Protestant church, and several Jewish synagogues. 



Copenhagen owes its origin as a city, to a castle 

 which was built here in 1160, by Archbishop Wide, to 

 defend the coast against the pirates which then swarm- 

 ed in the Baltic. The protection which the castle af- 

 forded, and the convenience of the situation as a port, 

 soon induced many of the islanders to prefer it for their 

 residence ; and it gradually increased in size and popu- 

 lation, until it became the seat of the court in 1443, du- 

 ring the reign of Christopher of Bavaria. Since that 

 time, Copenhagen may be said to have been more than 

 once entirely rebuilt, as there is perhaps not a house in 

 it 200 years old, and the greatest part of them, indeed 

 scarcely above 50. This has been occasioned by the 

 dreadful conflagrations to which it has been frequently 

 exposed ; and to which must be attributed its present 

 modern and regular appearance. The fire of 1728, in 

 48 hours swept away the most elegant part of the city; 

 and 67 streets, containing 1650 dwelling-houses, four 

 churches, the university, and several other public edi- 

 fices, fell victims to its fury. In 1794, between 900 

 and 1000 buildings, including the church of St Nicho- 

 las, and the royal palace of Christian sburg, were com- 

 pletely destroyed by a similar calamity ; and scarcely 

 were the streets rebuilt in the following year, when 

 -mother part of the city was reduced to ashes. Copen- 

 hagen also suffered severely during the last siege in 



1807. The Cathedral with 805 houses were destroyed, Copernicus- 

 and about 600 damaged by the bombardment ; and the 

 number of persons that perished is reckoned at 600, 

 and as many severely bruised. It is to these calamities, 

 however, that Copenhagen owes its present state of 

 beauty and regularity ; and, in proportion to its extent, 

 it contains fewer houses that can be called mean, than 

 any town in the world. 



The population of Copenhagen has increased consi- 

 derably during the present century. In 1 799, it amount* 

 ed to 8'2,6'08 inhabitants; while in 1806, the return was 

 95,000. In 1809, however, it was reduced to 90,000. 

 It has, indeed, fluctuated for the last ten years between 

 85,000 and 100,000. See M'Donald's Travels through 

 Denmark and part of Sweden in 1809, vol. ii. p. 16. 

 Coxe's Travels into Poland, Russia, &c. vol. ii. p. 

 524. Carr's Northern Summer, p. 42. Catteau Tableau 

 des Etats Danois ; Anderson's Tour in Zealand in 1 802; 

 and Catteau-Calleville's Tableau de la Mer Baltiqtie, 

 vol. ii. p. 321. Paris, 1812. (p) 



COPERNICUS (Nicolas,) or Zepernick, a celebra- 

 ted astronomer, and the restorer of the true system of 

 the world, was born near the old gate of Thorn in Prus- 

 sia, on the 19th of February 1473. * His father was a 

 surgeon in Thorn, and his mother's brother, Lucas Wal* 

 zelrodt, or Waisselrodt, to whom he owed all his pro- 

 motion, was Bishop of Ermeland, a situation to which 

 he was raised a few years after the birth of his nephew. 

 After receiving the first rudiments of education in 

 his native city, Copernicus was sent .to study physic 

 at the university of CracoW, where he received the aca- 

 demical degree of Doctor of Medicine. During the 

 prosecution of his medical studies, his mind was con- 

 stantly directed to mathematical subjects, and he is said 

 to have indulged with particular pleasure in the study 

 of perspective, and in the practice of painting. After 

 attending the mathematical lectures of Albert Brudze- 

 vius, his ardour for astronomy received a new excita- 

 tion ; and he aspired to the glory of emulating Pur- 

 bachius and Regiomontanus, two of the most celebrated 

 mathematicians of his time. With this view he went 

 to Italy, t and received lessons in astronomy from Do- 

 minic Maria of Ferrara, who was professor of mathe- 

 matics at Bologna, and who speedily discovered the 

 great talents of his pupil. From being the pupil, Co- 

 pernicus became the friend and coadjutor of Maria, and 

 there is reason to believe that Maria's hypothesis of the 

 variability of the axis of the globe, suggested to Coper- 

 nicus the idea of explaining the celestial phenomena by 

 the motion of the earth. In 1497, Copernicus first ob- 

 served the occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon. 



From Bologna, Copernicus went to Rome, where he 

 employed himself in teaching mathematics, and in ma- 

 king astronomical observations ; and such was the re- 

 spect which his talents had at that time inspired, that 

 after his return to his native country, he was consulted, 

 in the year 1516, by the clergy of Rome respecting the 

 proposed reformation of the calendar. J Copernicus had 

 by this time been appointed to a canonry in the chapter 



The date of Copernicus's birth in the text is given on the authority of Maestlinus, and is reckoned the most probable by Gassendi. 

 Junctinus says that he was born on the 19th January 1472. 



+ Copernicus is said to have been sent to Italy at the expence of the chapter of Ermeland, but there is no evidence of this, and it 

 a more probable that his journey was the result of an ardent desire to become a great astronomer. 



+ raui Middelburg, Bishop of Fossombrona, who had made himself known by a work entitled, Magistri Pauli de Middelburgo 

 tinn'Tth i v '8" Ul ° nnus duratura, Colon!*, 4to, 1484, presided over the council, which was appointed to consider the reforma- 

 "",, ™ e calendar - «e wrote several letters to Copernicus, soliciting his assistance on this occasion. This application was strength, 

 bum- h ° m C .°P ermcus ' 6 friend Bernard Scultetus, dean of Frauenberg, who had been chosen secretary by the council; but 



his mino was engrossed with other pursuits, and he was unwilling to hazard an opinion upon a subject which was not the result ef mm 



VOL. VH. PART I. ° C 



