678 K E P 
lations for his obfervations and theories; and, unlefs when 
fome one from kindnefs undertook this office, he had 
every thing of the kind to do himfeif. 
At Lintz, Kepler was involved in difputes with the 
Lutheran divines, becaufe he refufed to fubfcribe to the 
Concordat in all its points, which was defigned to unite 
the l'everal parties into which the Lutherans had fplit. 
One of thefe divines, named Hizler, accufed him of he- 
refy, and the Lutherans formally excluded him from their 
fociety. At Lintz he married, for his fecond wife, the 
daughter of a cabinet-maker, who had been educated in 
the family of count Stahremberg 5 but ffie brought him 
no fortune. 
In 1613 the emperor required Kepler’s attendance at 
Ratifbon, to be confulted by the affembled diet refpeCting 
the alteration of the ftyle. In a trail, which he publiffied 
in that city, he exhorted the proteltants, who obftinately 
refufed to give up the old Julian calendar, to adopt the 
new Gregorian with fome modifications., Nothing, how¬ 
ever, was effected. On the death of the celebrated Ma- 
gius, his vacant chair in the univerfity of Bologna was 
offered, in 1617, to Kepler. Though his fituation was then 
gloomy enough, as his falary was unpaid, and he was ne- 
ceffitated to write for a fubfiftence, Bill the profpeCt of 
eafe and reputation was not fufficiently tempting to allure 
him from his native land. His hopes that this invitation 
•would difpofe the imperial court to a more conlcientious 
fulfilment of its engagements with him were again difap- 
pointed. The emperor Matthias died in 1618 ; and it was 
not till December 1621, that he was appointed imperial ma¬ 
thematician by his fucceffor Ferdinand II. In i624-hewent 
to Vienna to folicit the payment of his falary, and to pro¬ 
cure the money r.equifite for printing the above-mentioned 
Rudolphine'Tables, for which all his applications had for 
many years been in vain. The emperor merely gave him 
an alignment for 6000 florins. The enfuing year he was 
furnifhed with an imperial refcript to the imperial cities 
of Kenipten, Memmingen, and Nurnberg, authorizing 
him to colleCl from them the fums which he had demand¬ 
ed ; fince the thirty-years’ war which broke out after the 
death of Matthias had greatly reduced the imperial ex¬ 
chequer. In this manner he collected about one-third of 
the money ; which he immediately expended in the pub¬ 
lication of his Tables. 
The trouble which this bufinefs gave him at Lintz was 
.greatly increafed by the circumftance that feals were put 
on his library by the Jefuits, becaufe it contained many 
works of a religious tendency ; but he was alloived the 
■ufe of his mathematical books. After he had with the 
other inhabitants fuflained the fiege laid to Lintz, in 
1626, by the rebellious peafants, he travelled by way of 
Paffau and Frankfort to Prague. Here the emperor gave 
him 4000 florins, and allowed him to enter into the fer- 
vice of general Wallenftein, who was a great lover of 
mathematics, and efpecinlly aftrology, upon condition 
that the general fhouid pay all the arrears of his falary, 
amounting to 12,000 florins. In the fame year the grand- 
duke of Tufcany honoured him with the prefent of a 
gold chain. 
Kepler now repaired to Wallenftein, at Sagan in Silefia. 
Tiie general gave him a kind reception, fitted up a print- 
ing-eftabiifhment for his ufe, and procured for his affifl- 
ant Jacob Bartfcli, who in 1630 married one of Kepler’s 
daughters. But this was not all. As Wallenftein already 
considered the duchy of Mecklenburg, which he had con¬ 
quered, as his own property, he commanded the univerfity 
of Roitock to fend him the appointment of profeffor of 
mathematics, promifing himfeif to pay the falary attached 
$0 that office. Kepler was inclined to accept the offer, 
provided the old arrears of 12,000 florins were dilcharged. 
This Wallenftein, to whom he had dedicated fome of his 
works, fliowed no inclination to do ; and he was compel¬ 
led once more to apply to the emperor, who was then at 
Ratifbon, whither he had fummoned a diet. No fooner 
had he reached that city, than, exhaufted with his labours 
LER. 
and the fatigues of the journey, he was feized with a ma¬ 
lady which put an end to his active life in the month of 
November 1630, before he had completed his 60th year. 
His remains were interred in St. Peter’s church-yard at 
Ratifbon ; and an appropriate monument was not long 
fince ereCted by the prince-primate of the Rhenifh confe¬ 
deracy, who refides in that city. It does not ftand on 
the fpot in which the remains of the aftronomer are depo- 
fited, becaufe this circumltance could not be afeertained, 
the public burying-ground having been completely de- 
vaftated during the thirty-years’ war; but in a garden ad¬ 
joining the city. 
Kepler left behind, as the iffue of his firfl marriage, 
one fon, Louis, who praCtifed as a phyfician at Konigf- 
berg, and a daughter, who married Bartfch his afliftant at 
Sagan, but three years afterwards became a widow, her 
hufband being fwept off by the plague juft at the moment 
when he had been appointed profeffor of mathematics at 
Strafburg. Of the offspring of his fecond marriage five 
children furvived him. With four of thefe the unfortu¬ 
nate widow repaired to Frankfort to her ftep-fon, who 
was juft returned from a journey to Italy, and implored 
his fuccour. The tender-hearted young man afforded her 
all the affiftance in his power ; and, in order to relieve 
the molt urgent of her wants, he fuperintended the im- 
preffion of one of the manufeript works left by his father. 
This was the Somnium of that great man. 
It remains to fpeak of Kepler’s merits as a man and 2 
fcholar. The heavy afflictions which befel him he en¬ 
dured with invincible patience 5 not as though he were 
totally infenflble to the fevere ftrokes which fate inflicted 
on him; but it was only in gentle complaints that his op- 
prefled heart vented its griefs in his letters to his numer¬ 
ous friends ; whilft a profound fenfe of religion and fei- 
ence, for which he was indefatigably aCtive, upheld his 
courage, and enabled him to encounter with fortitude and 
refignation the various hardfhips which inceffantly pur- 
fued him, and from his earlieft infancy overcaft the hori¬ 
zon of life. The fmalleft ray of profperity was fufficient 
to banifli numberlefs forrows from his mind. He was in¬ 
capable of hatred ; and, though one emperor after another 
left h im to pine in poverty and want, ftill he adhered to 
them with undiffembled fidelity and attachment. Never did 
he exert his interell at court to opprefs any one ; never did 
he enter the mazes of intrigue, in which his fimpie amia¬ 
ble fpirit would fcarcely have fupported him. He eafily for¬ 
got offences. To his friends he was attached with invaria¬ 
ble love, and to his teachers, fome of whom furvived him, 
with the molt fincere efteem. Splendid as were his ta¬ 
lents. and univerfally as they were acknowledged by his 
contemporaries, that modefty which is the companion of 
true greatnefs never forfook him for a moment 5 ftill lefs 
did he ever fuffer envy to blind him to the merits of others. 
On the other hand, that jealoufy which was often manifeft- 
ed towards him, operated with him as an incitement to de- 
ferve that for the fake of which he was envied. 
He was an excellent hufband and an excellent father. 
The ardent defire to perform his duty for the darling ob¬ 
jects of his foul, and the continued injuftice of the court, 
Simulated him to inceflant exertions of the mind for their 
fupport. On account of the war which ravaged Germany 
from one end to the other, and the little intereft which 
the public took at that time in the promotion of aftrono- 
mical fcience, no very great fate for his works could be 
calculated upon; fo that, before he could find a publifher, 
he was frequently obliged to engage to purchafe a confi- 
derable part of the impreffion, or to take a certain num¬ 
ber of copies in payment of the fum which he required 
for the manufeript. His ftep-daughter died in 1617 at 
Walderbach near Ratifbon, leaving her hufband three 
children. At the requeit of the widower, feeling for the 
fituation of his young family, he himfeif conducted his 
eldeft daughter to him from Lintz, and left her there a 
confiderable time to fuperintend his domeftic concerns 
and fiupply the place of a mother to the orphans. Of his 
filial. 
