COPERNICUS. 



203 



Copernicus. Revohdionibus orbium celeslium libri vi. Habes in hoc 

 "^ "Vr operejam receiis nato et edito, studiose lector, motus stel- 

 larum tumjixarum quam erralicarum, cum ex veteribus 

 turn ctiam ex recentibus observationibus institutos, et no- 

 vis inmper ac admirabilibus hypothesibus ornatns. Habes 

 etiam labulas expeditissimos ex quibus eosdem ad quodvis 

 tempus quam facillime calculare poteris. Igitur eme, 

 lege, fruere. Apud Jo. Petreium. NorimbergEe, in 

 folio. This admirable work its author did not live to 

 read. He received a copy of it, which he saw and 

 touched only a few hours before his death, which hap- 

 pened at Frauenberg, in consequence of the rupture of 

 a blood vessel, and a palsy in his right side, on the 22d 

 of May 1543, three months and three days after he had 

 entered the 73d year of his age. 



While Copernicus was pursuing his astronomical dis- 

 coveries at Frauenberg, his mind was occasionally di- 

 rected to other objects. He was appointed adminis- 

 trator of the possessions of the chapter in the bailliage 

 of Allenstein, and as he was obliged to reside here oc- 

 casionally, he had a room fitted up for temporary ob- 

 servations. He is said also to have been appointed to 

 an office in the mint, and to have left a work on that 

 subject, which is still preserved in some town of West 

 Prussia. This fact, however, is stated only on the au- 

 thority of Count ThadEeus Czacki. In 1 502, Coperni- 

 cus went as representative of the chapter of Frauen- 

 berg, to an assembly which was held at Graudenz, for 

 the purpose of considering the state of the money sys- 

 tem, and he took an active part in endeavouring to ef- 

 fect an uniformity of money in the different provinces 

 of Prussia. 



When the bishop happened to be absent, Copernicus 

 was entrusted with the charge of the diocese, and he 

 was chosen general vicar during the vacancies which 

 followed the deaths of two prelates. At the death of 

 Bishop Maurice in 15 7 Copernicus was one of the 

 four who were nominated by King Sigismond as the can- 

 didates from among whom the chapter of Ermeland 

 were to choose their bishop. 



Copernicus appears to have likewise employed him- 

 self as a civil engineer. There happened to be no springs 

 of water on the hill of Frauenberg, on which the canons 

 resided: in order to remedy this inconvenience, he 

 constructed, half a mile higher up the river, an oblique 

 dam 15 ells and a half long, and he erected a mill by 

 which the water was raised with a wheel to the top of 

 a tower, from which it was conveyed by pipes to the 

 house of each canon. * This machine, which is now in 

 ruins, is said to have been the model for the great hy- 

 draulic machine at Marly. 



It is a singular fact in the history of Copernicus, that, 

 while he himself was zealously engaged in establishing a 

 system in direct opposition to the faith of the catholic 

 church.he shouldhave viewed with indifference, and even 

 with hostility, the great reformation which Luther was 

 accomplishing in Germany. An edict was even issued by 

 Maurice, bishop of Ermeland, in 1526, and signed by 

 Copernicus and the other canons, t the first article of 

 which was directed against the exertions of Luther; and 

 it is certainly a remarkable circumstance, that the dio- 

 cese of Ermeland, illuminated by the wisdom of Coper- 



nicus, should have preserved the Catholic religion, Copernicu- 

 while all the surrounding provinces had embraced the "-"V"-' 

 doctrines of the Reformation. 



About the commencement of the present century, 

 when the science of astronomy was very generally cul- 

 tivated on the continent, an attempt was made by the 

 Society of Sciences at Warsaw to discover some traces 

 of Copernicus, and Count Thadseus Czacki and Co- 

 lonel Molski were sent to Frauenburg for this pur- 

 pose. In the house where Copernicus resided, which 

 was then possessed by an evangelical Lutheran pastor, 

 there were some manuscript verses pasted to the chim- 

 ney piece, and written in Copernicus's own hand ; but 

 about 1 5 years before, a pastor who had left the place, 

 had carried them off as a memorial of that great astro- 

 nomer. The name and arms of Copernicus were also 

 painted in colours on a pane of glass, but this valuable 

 relic, after having been preserved three centuries and 

 a half, was also carried off 1 2 years ago. Over the 

 door of the house is shewn a place where there was a»i 

 aperture through which the rays of the sun were ad- 

 mitted into another chamber. This aperture, which 

 was probably used as a gnomon, was filled up about 

 six years ago by the present possessor. The tower in 

 the neighbourhood on which Copernicus made his ob- 

 servations, is in a state of bad repair, and is used only 

 for the confinement of prisoners. From a manuscript 

 letter of Copernicus, written a few days before his 

 death to the King of Poland, and dated at Frauenberg, 

 which has been carefully preserved in the archives of 

 Warsaw, it appeared certain that Copernicus had died 

 at Frauenberg, and not at Thorn, as some persons had 

 supposed ; and as he was chancellor of the chapter, to 

 which office a particular altar was annexed in the cathe- 

 dral church, the travellers presumed that he was in- 

 terred beneath this altar. Near this spot they found a 

 grave-stone, partly covered by a marble ballustrade 

 which surrounds the altar. Spheres cut out in relief, 

 and the letters Nicol, pointed out the place where the 

 ashes of the astronomer were deposited. Having ob- 

 tained pemiission from the chapter to remove every ob- 

 struction, the travellers washed the stone, and found 

 the following letters — 



Nicol 



Cop 



An . 



the remainder of the inscription being completely ef- 

 faced. After raising the stone, they found common 

 yellow sand, and in the middle of it a little black earth, 

 under which were found the remains of mouldering 

 bones. A part of them were kept by the chapter, and 

 five were given to the travellers. The travellers then 

 searched for the manuscripts of Copernicus, but they 

 found only some of his letters on private affairs, and a 

 few of his signatures among the acts of the chapter. 



The attention of the chapter having been thus direct- 

 ed to the memory of Copernicus, they ordered a marble 

 to be engraved with his portrait and inscriptions, which 

 has been placed in the wall opposite to the altar where 

 he was interred. 



It is impossible to survey the preceding sketch of the 

 life and discoveries of Copernicus, without being struck 



* The following inscription was engraven on the tower : 



" Hie patiuntur aqua? sursum properare coactae, 

 Ne careat sitiens Incola mentis ope, 

 <iuod natura negat tiibuit ( opernicus arte, 

 _ . Unum pro cunctis Fama loquatur opus." 



9 , f T- /^ t , begins ! h . us : *~" Nous Maurice, par la grace de Dieu, Eveque ; Jean Fejber, Doyen ; Tydeman Gyse, Custos ; Jean 

 acuiteti, Aichidiacre, Nicolas Copernic, Chanoine, et tout le Chapitre des Eglists de la Wurmie ayant consider^, &c." 



