KEI 
change in his way of life abfolutely neceffary. To avoid 
the public talk which this unfortunate circumftance might 
occafion, he removed with his family to Leonberg, in the 
territory of Wirtemberg, where he turned innkeeper. To 
the fchool of that place alfo his foil was fent, but not 
without long intervals of interruption, as his parents 
formed the defign of bringing him up to agriculture, and 
employed him in all forts of work analogous to that pur¬ 
suit. But the ft conger his propenlity to ftudy became, 
the more irkfome he felt this fituation ; till his parents at 
length thought it bed to lay him under no farther re- 
ftraint, and thus he was left more at liberty to follow the 
bent of his inclinations. 
In 1586 he was received into the conventual fchool at 
Maulbronn. Notwithftanding all the defeats which have 
been alleged againft thefe fchools in the territories of Wir¬ 
temberg, they have always been diftinguiflied by folidity 
of inftrudtion, and have produced a great number of emi¬ 
nent fcholars. Kepler alfo was incontellably under great 
obligations to the fchool at Maulbronn. Conformably 
with the arrangements of this inftitution, he was here ad¬ 
mitted to the degree of bachelor in 1588; and the follow¬ 
ing year removed to the ducal college at Tubingen, 
where, with extraordinary affiduity, he purfued the ftudy 
of divinity, and obtained the degree of mafter of arts in 
1591. He continued two years longer at the academy. 
During this interval, a new direction was given to his in- 
duftry, which led him to devote himfelf exclulively to 
mathematics and aftronomy, lciences which he was parti¬ 
cularly encouraged to profecute by his tutor, the cele¬ 
brated Michael Moftlin, and in which he was deftined to 
furpafs ail his contemporaries. 
On the ftrong recommendation of his inftruffor, he 
was invited in 1593 by the Hates of Styria to fill the chair 
of mathematics and morality in the univerfity of Griitz. 
During his academical years, he had fuftained many 
heavy afflictions. Several fevere fits of illnefs had not 
only occafioned long interruptions of his ftudies, but 
death had deprived him of his father and one of his bro¬ 
thers. One of the rare gleams of fortune’s fnn-fhine now 
burft forth upon him. In 1597 he married a lady of 
good family, who was in her fecond widowhood, and 
brought him a ftep-daughter. At Gr'dtz he began to ex¬ 
cite univerfal notice by his publications; but the troubles 
which about this period began to convulfe tire Aultrian 
ftates, and which had their fource in religion, operated to his 
prejudice as a proteftant; and in 1598 he was obliged to 
repair to Hungary, where, exempt from care, he fpent all 
his time in the cultivation of his favourite fciences. It 
is not known for certain whether he ever returned to 
Gr’dtz ; but, if he did, at lead his refidence there was not 
of long duration ; as the religious commotions gradually 
threw a deeper (hade over the profpeCt, and the- falaries 
allowed to him and other proteftant profeiTors w r ere at 
length withdrawn. 
In this critical fituation his' friends advifed him to re¬ 
turn to Wirtemberg, where he might reckon with the 
greater confidence upon a decent provifion, as the duke 
wasnot unacquainted with thefervices which he had already 
rendered to aftronomy. Other profpedts however opened 
to his view. On occafion of a vifit to Prague in 1600, he 
-had become perfonally acquainted with the celebrated Swe- 
difh aftronomer, Tycho Brahe. Tycho, whole fame was 
fpread over all Europe, had been invited to Bohemia by 
-the emperor Rudolph II. who was a friend to the fciences, 
and who affigned him a falary of 3000 golden guilders. 
On his reprefentation that the proximity of the court and 
the buftle of the metropolis .would difturb him too much 
In his ftudies, the caftle of Benach had been allotted for 
his refidence. For the profecution of his aftronomical ob- 
fervations he required an affiftant to make out the necef- 
fary tables. Kepler’s circumftances were too low to per¬ 
mit him to refufe Tycho’s offers without fome confidera- 
tion. He was now obliged to live merely on his wife’s 
Vox.. XL No. 786. 
L E R. 077 
inconfiderable property, (for the fecurity of which fire 
had been involved in fcveral difagreeable lawfuits by her 
relations,) and on the produce of his works, which could 
not have been great, fince aftronomical readers were in 
thofe days but few. He was fenfible, at the fame time, 
that it would not be prudent to make himfelf and the fuh- 
fiftence of his family dependent on the will of an indivi¬ 
dual ; and he therefore-itipulated that Tycho Ihouid pro¬ 
cure him an appointment from the emperor himfelf, with 
whom he was fo great a favourite. 
Having obtained a proipil'e to this eftedf, he repaired in 
Oftober 1600, with his family, to Prague. A quartan 
ague, which afflicted him til! the following Auguft, pre¬ 
vented him from rendering Tycho fo much fervice as he 
willied, though he did for him all that lay in his power. 
On his recovery in 1601, Tycho introduced him to the 
emperor, by whom he was commiffloned to continue his 
affiftance to the aftronomer in his calculations, and ho¬ 
noured with the title of imperial mathematician, to which, 
however, at firft no falary was attached. His fituation 
was of courfe no better than before. Kepler was alfo dif- 
fatisfied with Tycho himfelf, as is proved by his letters, 
becaufe he was, from jealoufy, not only extremely referved, 
but often made difficulties refpedling the ufe of his excel¬ 
lent inftruments. One obftacle to perfect unanimity be¬ 
tween them was this, that Kepler was a partifan of the 
Copernican fyftem, which, in oppolition to the ancient 
notion of Ptolemy, reprefented all the planets as revolving- 
round the fun; whereas Tycho had fet up a fyftem of his 
own, which, agreeably to the vulgar opinion, made the 
fun himfelf revolve round the earth, and the other planets 
round the fun. 
Kepler’s intercourfe with Tycho was not of long dura¬ 
tion, for the latter died in October 1601. With his heirs 
Kepler had many unpleafant difputes. His inftruments 
were purchafed by the emperor, but no perfon was per¬ 
mitted to ufe them ; a circumftance which occafioned no 
fmall vexation to our aftronomer. This fine collection was 
afterwards almoft entirely difperfed and deftroyed amidfl: 
the ravages of the thirty-years’ war. After Tycho’s 
death, Kepler had a falary alligned him, which was partly 
to be paid out of the imperial exchequer, and partly by 
the Silefian chamber: but this was never regularly done. 
The arrears, which were continually unpaid, not only de¬ 
layed the printing of feveral of his molt important works, 
on which he was inceffantly engaged in the fucceeding 
years till the emperor’s death in 1612, efpecially his Ru- 
dolphine Tables, but often reduced him to the utmoft 
embarraffment in regard to the fupportof his family. The 
years 1609 and 1611 were particularly diftrefflng for him. 
His wife was feized with a melancholy, which under¬ 
mined her conftitution ; and no fooner was (lie recovered 
from a fevere indifpofition, than grief for the lofe of a 
darling boy, who w\as carried off by the fmall-pox, of 
which his three children all lay ill at once, fent her after 
him to the tomb. She died in i6ir ; and, as Kepler was 
now obliged to part from his ftep-daughter, and to re- 
ftore to her the fortune which he had received with her 
mother, he found himfelf more ftraitened than ever in his 
circumftances. 
After the death of his imperial patron, he looked for¬ 
ward to the future with great anxiety, which, however, 
was removed when his fuccelfor, the emperor Matthias, 
gave him the moft pofitive affurances that his falary 
fiiould be continued, and the arrears paid up; at the fame 
time inviting him to Lintz, where the court then refided. 
Thefe however were merely empty promil’es : his falary 
was not paid; and, had he not received fome fupport from 
the ftates of the diftribt above the Ens, both himfelf and 
his children mud have perilhed for want. That this fitu¬ 
ation of his affairs proved a prodigious obftacle to his af- 
tronomical labours, may eaiily be conceived. He not 
only felt the want of good inftruments, but he was not 
even able to keep an affiftant to make the neceflary calcu- 
i K lations 
