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foTtie Latin vf rfes in liis prallc. more cxprcfTive of eftcem and 

 •drtiiratioii, thin rrma.k.ahlc for clainc elegance. In 1,592 

 'iVho hsd the honour of a vilit from his own fovereign, 

 Cl'irillian IV., then in the i^th year of his age; who ex- 

 preflcd great fatisfaftion in examining his allrujiomical and 

 chemiea! apparatus, and propufed to him fcveral qiR (lions 

 on various points of mathematics and mcclianics, and parti- 

 cularly on the principles of fortification, and the conilriic- 

 tion of (hips. He was alfo highly dchghtcd with a gilt tin 

 globe, which reprcfcfted the face of the heavens, and being 

 turned on its ax^s, exhibited the rifing and fctting of the fun, 

 togtther with the motions of tlie planets and heavenly bo- 

 dies. The king, upon l->cing prcfentcd with this curious 

 machine, acknowtedged tiie favour by the donation of a 

 gold chain, and by an alTurance of inviolable I'.ioteaion and 

 encouragement. Notwithllaiiding thife alfurances, the ene- 

 mies of Tycho, jealous of his merit, or offended by the 

 violence of his temper, and the feverity of his fatire, con- 

 trived, in 1596, under various pretences, to divert tlie young 

 king's attachment, and to induce him to deprive the allro- 

 iiomer of his penfion, his fee, and the canonry of Rofchild. 

 Thus deprived of the means of fiipporting iiis expenfive 

 eftablilhment at Uraniburg, Tycho was reduced to the ne- 

 ceffity of quitting his favourite rcfidence, and repairing to 

 Copenhagen, where for a fhort time he continued his obfer- 

 vations. But the malevolence of his enemies purfued him ; 

 and therefore, after having tianfported from Uraniburg all 

 thofe parts of his apparatus which could be removed, he 

 departed from Copenhagen with his wife and family, landed 

 at Rolloc, and remained a year at Wanlteck, with his learned 

 friend Henry Rantzau. 



About this time he publi(hcd his aftronomical treatife, 

 intitled " Allronomia iiiRaurata mechanica ;" and having 

 dedicated it to the emperor Rodolplius II., who had a 

 talle for mechanics and ciiemillry, he received from him an 

 invitation to fettle at Prague, whither he removed, towards 

 tlie clofe of the year i ,yS. The emperor granted him a 

 magnificent houfe, alligncd him a penlion of ;^coo crowns, 

 and promifed him a fee for himfelf and his defcendants. 

 Here he fcemed to have obtained a fixed fettlement for him- 

 felf, and his fons, and his fcholars, among whom was the 

 famous Kepler ; but he did not long enjoy the advantages 

 of this fituation. About a year bttore his death, he felt 

 fymptonis of declining heakh, occalioned, probably, by his 

 ititcnfc application, a.id by tiie chagrin he had fuffered on 

 his removal from Uraniburg ; to thefe he was hiinlelf con- 

 fcions, though .he concealed them as much as poflible from 

 his friends. But the immediate caufe of his deceafe was a 

 ilrangury, brought on by drinking more than he was ac- 

 cuftomed to do, at the table of a lord named Rofenberg, 

 and by an imprudent retention of urine ; and attended with 

 excruciating torments, wliich occafioned a violent fever, and 

 a temporary delirium ; in the paroxyfms of which he was 

 heard frequcntiy'to exclaim, " Ne frullra vixiffe videar ;" 

 i.e. that I may not feem to have lived in vain. When the 

 fever fubfidtd, and he recovered his fenfes, he was well ap- 

 prifcd of his approaching end. In the profpect of it he 

 gave necedary orders with compofure and refignation, amu- 

 fcd himfeff with compofing an extempore copy of verfes, 

 fung various hymns, offered up prayers to the Supreme 

 Being, recommended to his family and friends piety and 

 fubmilTion to the divine will ; charged his fons, that none of 

 bis works (liould be loll ; exhorted hi; pupils to perfevere 

 in their lludics, and converfed with Kepler on the abdrufer 

 parts of aftronomy, and requeded him to complete the Ro- 

 doiphine tables which he had conftrutlcd for regulating the 

 taotions of the planets. Thus employing his lall moments, 



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he expired fo quietly, that he was neither heard nor feen by 

 any of thofe v.-lio were prefent, to breathe his laft. He died 

 Otlober the 241!!, 1601, in the .55th year of his age ; and 

 was very magnificently interred in the principal chi-rch at 

 Prao-ue, where a noble monument was erefted to his me. 

 mory. His wife, two fons, and four daughters, furvived 

 him. 



Tvcho Brahe was a man of moderate ftature, with light 

 red hair, and a countenance that was rather handfome. As 

 to his mental powers, he combined energy and aflivity ; and 

 thus endowed, he was admirably qualified for arriving at 

 thofe eminent attainments by which he was diftinguiflied. 

 His merit as an aftronomer is unquedionable ; for though 

 he rejedlcd the limple and beautiful fyllem of Copernicus, 

 and endeavoured to reconcile the abfurdities of the Ptole- 

 maic hypothefis, he formed a fyftem conformable to the 

 more obvious phenomena, but which did not require any 

 motion of the planet which we inhabit. To this fyftem 

 (for an account of which, fee System ) he was fo zealoufly 

 attached, that, in his laft moments, he defired his favourite 

 fcholar, the great Kepler, to follow his hypothefis rather 

 than that of Copernicus. For a further account of his dif- 

 coveries, as well as for a concife abftraft of his hiftory, fee 

 Astronomy. As a poet, Tycho wrote fome Latin verfes, 

 which are not altogether deftitute of claffic elegance. He 

 had alfo a tafte for building ; he drew the plan of the caftlc 

 of Cronberg, and ficetched the defign for the noble maufo- 

 leum of Frederic II., which was executi d in Italy, and 

 erefted in the caftle of Rofchild. As a medical praftitioner, 

 he was fond of being confulted, and gave his advice and 

 medicines gratis 5 he invented an elixir, which he calls an 

 infallible remedy for epidemic diforders, and of which he 

 publifhed the recipe in a letter to the emperor Rodolphus. 

 He was likewife a good mechanic, and conftrutted feveral 

 automata, which he took delight in exhibiting to the pea- 

 fants ; and in his apartments at Uraniburg he had feveral 

 contrivances, which were calculated to deceive and aftonilh 

 thofe who came to vifit and confult him. He was alio very 

 much devoted to the ftudy of chemiftry ; and expended as 

 much on the terreftrial aftronomv, as he ftyled it, as on the 

 celeftial ; but he has left no writings on this fubjeft. In- 

 deed, his refearches in this department of fcience, like thofe 

 of his contemporaries, were direfted to the vifionary delide- 

 rata. To judicial aftrology he was addidled to a degree 

 that is truly aftonilhing; and he manifel1:ed a pronenefs to 

 credulity and luperftition, very unfuitable to his learning and 

 judgment. He was an attentive obftrver of good and bad 

 omens ; infomuch, that if he met an old woman on tird 

 leaving his houfe, or a hare crofTed him upon his journey, he 

 would inftantly return home. He took pleafuie in being 

 conlulted as a fortune-teller; and pretended, that his know- 

 ledge of the heavenly bodies enabled him to obfervc horo- 

 fcopes, and to foretel future events. At his houfe at 

 Uraniburg, he kept an infane perfon, who fat at his feet 

 during the time of dinner, and whom he fed with his own 

 hand ; and he noted down any incoherent exprefiions which 

 were uttered by this perfon, under a perfuafion, that the 

 mind, in a ftate of emotion, was capable of predicting future 

 events; and he even believed, that, if any inhabitant of the 

 ifland was taken ill, this idiot could predid his recoveiy or 

 deceafe. 



As to his natural difpofition, it was irritable, impetuous, 

 morofe, and inflexible ; and he indulged a humour for rail- 

 lery, to a degree that gave offence ; but while he rallied 

 others without referve, and becoming caution, he was ealily 

 provoked by the raillery of others. If, however, we divert 

 our attention from the unfavourable to the brighter parts of 



his 



