In the south and greater Observatory.1. A semicircle of solid iron, covered with brass, four cubits radius.2. A sextant of the same materials and size.3. A quadrant of one and a half cubits radius, and an azimuth circle of three cubits.4. Ptolemy’s parallactic rules, covered with brass, four cubits in the side.5. The sextant already described in page 134.6. Another quadrant, like No. 3.7. Zodiacal armillaries of melted brass, and turned out of the solid, of three cubits in diameter.Near this observatory was a large clock, with one wheel two cubits in diameter, and two smaller ones, which, like it, indicated hours, minutes, and seconds.In the south and lesser Observatory.8. An armillary sphere of brass, with a steel meridian, whose diameter was about 4 cubits.In the north Observatory.9. Brass parallactic rules, which revolved in azimuth above a brass horizon, twelve feet in diameter.10. A half sextant, of four cubits radius.11. A steel sextant.12. Another half sextant, with steel limb, four cubits radius.13. The parallactic rules of Copernicus.14. Equatorial armillaries.15. A quadrant of a solid plate of brass, five cubits in radius, shewing every ten seconds.16. In the museum was the large globe made at Augsburg, see p. 134.In the Stiern-berg Observatory.17. In the central part, a large semicircle, with a brass limb, and three clocks, shewing hours, minutes, and seconds.18. Equatorial armillaries of seven cubits, with semi-armillaries of nine cubits.19. A sextant of four cubits radius.20. A geometrical square of iron, with an intercepted quadrant of five cubits, and divided into fifteen seconds.21. A quadrant of four cubits radius, shewing ten seconds, with an azimuth circle.22. Zodiacal armillaries of brass, with steel meridians, three cubits in diameter.23. A sextant of brass, kept together by screws, and capable of being taken to pieces for travelling with. Its radius was four cubits.24. A moveable armillary sphere, three cubits in diameter.25. A quadrant of solid brass, one cubit radius, and divided into minutes by Nonian circles.26. An astronomical radius of solid brass, three cubits long.27. An astronomical ring of brass, a cubit in diameter.28. A small brass astrolabe.
In the south and greater Observatory.
Near this observatory was a large clock, with one wheel two cubits in diameter, and two smaller ones, which, like it, indicated hours, minutes, and seconds.
In the south and lesser Observatory.
In the north Observatory.
In the Stiern-berg Observatory.
In almost all the instruments now enumerated, the limb was subdivided by diagonal lines, a method which Tycho first brought into use, but which, in modern times, has been superseded by the inventions of Nonius and Vernier.
When Tycho had thus furnished his observatory, he devoted himself to the examination of the stars; and during the twenty-one years which he spent in this delightful occupation, he made vast additions to astronomical science. In order to instruct the young in the art of observation, and educate assistants for his observatory, he had sometimes under his roof from six to twelve pupils, whom he boarded and educated. Some of these were named by theKing, and educated at his expense. Others were sent by different academies and cities; and several, who had presented themselves of their own accord, were liberally admitted by the generous astronomer.
As Tycho had spent nearly a ton of gold (about 100,000 dollars) in his outlay at Uraniburg, his own income was reduced to very narrow limits. To supply this defect, Frederick gave him an annual pension of 2000 dollars, beside an estate in Norway, and made him Canon of the Episcopal Church of Rothschild, or Prebend of St Laurence,[38]which had an annual income of 1000 dollars, and which was burdened only with the expense of keeping up the chapel containing the Mausolea of the Kings of the family of Oldenburg.
It would be an unprofitable task, and one by no means interesting to the general reader, to give a detailed history of the various astronomical observations and discoveries which were made by Tycho during the twenty years that he spent at Uraniburg. Every phenomenon that appeared in the heavens, he observedwith the greatest care; while he at the same time carried on regular series of observations for determining the places of the fixed stars, and for improving the tables of the sun, moon, and planets. Though almost wholly devoted to these noble pursuits, yet he kept an open house, and received, with unbounded hospitality, the crowds of philosophers, nobles, and princes who came to be introduced to the first astronomer of the age, and to admire the splendid temple which the Danish Sovereign had consecrated to science.
Among the strangers whom he received under his roof, there were some who returned his kindness with ingratitude. Among these was Paul Witichius, a mathematician; who, under the pretence of devoting his whole life to astronomy, insinuated himself into the utmost familiarity with Tycho. The unsuspecting astronomer explained to his guest all his inventions, described all his methods, and even made him acquainted with those views which he had not realised, and with instruments which he had not yet executed. When Witichius had thus obtained possession of the methods, and inventions, and views of Tycho, and had enjoyed hishospitality for three months, he pretended that he was obliged to return to Germany to receive an inheritance to which he had succeeded. After quitting Uraniburg, this ungrateful mathematician neither returned to see Tycho, nor kept up any correspondence with him; and it was not till five years after his departure that Tycho learned, from the letters of the Prince of Hesse to Ranzau, that Witichius had passed through Hesse, and had described, as his own, the various inventions and methods which had been shewn to him in Huen.
Being unable to reconcile his own observations with those of Copernicus, and with the Prutenic Tables, Tycho resolved to obtain new determinations of the latitude of Frauenburg, in Prussia, where Copernicus made his observations, and of Konigsberg, to the meridian of which Rheinhold had adapted his Prutenic Tables. For these purposes he sent one of his assistants, Elias Morsianus, with a proper instrument, under the protection of Bylovius, Ambassador of the Margrave of Anspach, to the King of Denmark, who was returning by sea to Germany; and after receiving the greatest attention and assistance from the nobleCanons of Ermeland, he determined, from nearly a month’s observations on the sun and stars, that the latitude of Frauenburg was 54° 22½´, in place of 54° 19½´, as given by Copernicus. In like manner he determined that the latitude of Konigsberg was 54° 43´, in place of 54° 17´, as adopted by Rheinhold. When Morsianus returned to Huen in July, he brought with him, as a present to Tycho, from John Hannovius, one of the Canons of Ermeland, the Ptolemaic Rules, or the Parallactic Instrument which Copernicus had used and made with his own hands. It consisted of two equal wooden rules, five cubits long, and divided into 1414 parts. Tycho preserved this gift as one peculiarly dear to him, and, on the day of his receiving it, he composed a set of verses in honour of the great astronomer to whom it belonged.
Among the distinguished visits which were paid to Tycho, we must enumerate that of Ulric, Duke of Mecklenburg, in 1586. Although his daughter, Sophia, Queen of Denmark, had already paid two visits to Uraniburg in the same year, yet such was her love of astronomy, that she accompanied her father and his wife Elizabeth on this occasion. Ulric wasnot only fond of science in general, but had for many years devoted himself to chemical pursuits, and he was therefore peculiarly gratified in examining the splendid laboratory and extensive apparatus which Tycho possessed. It has been said by some of the biographers of Tycho, that the Landgrave of Hesse visited Uraniburg about this period; but this opinion is not correct, as it was only his astronomer and optician, Rothman, who made a journey to Huen in 1591 for the recovery of his health. Tycho had long carried on a correspondence with this able astronomer respecting the observations made at the observatory of Hesse-Cassel, and, during the few months which they now spent together, they discussed in the amplest manner all the questions which had previously been agitated. Rothman was astonished at the wonderful apparatus which he saw at Uraniburg, and returned to his native country charmed with the hospitality of the Danish astronomer.
Hitherto we have followed Tycho through a career of almost unexampled prosperity. When he had scarcely reached his thirtieth year he was established, by the kindness and liberalityof his sovereign, in the most splendid observatory that had ever been erected in Europe; and a thriving family, an ample income, and a widely extended reputation were added to his blessings. Of the value of these gifts he was deeply sensible, and he enjoyed them the more that he received them with a grateful heart. Tycho was a christian as well as a philosopher. The powers of his gifted mind have been amply displayed in his astronomical labours; but we shall now have occasion to witness his piety and resignation in submitting to an unexpected and an adverse destiny.
Tycho’s Labours do honour to his Country—Death of Frederick II.—James VI. of Scotland visits Tycho at Uraniburg—Christian IV. visits Tycho—The Duke of Brunswick’s visit to Tycho—The Danish Nobility, jealous of his fame, conspire against him—He is compelled to quit Uraniburg—And to abandon his Studies—Cruelty of the Minister Walchendorp—Tycho quits Denmark with his Family and Instruments—Is hospitably received by Count Rantzau—Who introduces him to the Emperor Rudolph—The Emperor invites him to Prague—He gives him a Pension of 3000 Crowns—And the Castle of Benach as a Residence and an Observatory—Kepler visits Tycho—Who obtains for him the Appointment of Mathematician to Rudolph.
The love of astronomy which had been so unequivocally exhibited by Frederick II. and his Royal Consort, inspired their courtiers with at least an outward respect for science; and among the ministers and advisers of the King, Tycho reckoned many ardent friends. It was every where felt that Denmark had elevatedherself among the nations of Europe by her liberality to Tycho; and the peaceful glory which he had in return conferred upon his country was not of a kind to dissatisfy even rival nations. In the conquests of science no widow’s or orphan’s tears are shed, no captives are dragged from their homes, and no devoted victims are yoked to the chariot wheels of the triumphant philosopher. The newly acquired domains of knowledge belong, in right of conquest, to all nations, and Denmark had now earned the gratitude of Europe by the magnitude as well as the success of her contingent.
An event, however, now occurred which threatened with destruction the interests of Danish science. In the beginning of April 1588, Frederick II. died in the 54th year of his age, and the 29th of his reign. His remains were conveyed to Rothschild, and deposited in the chapel under Tycho’s care, where a finely executed bust of him was afterwards placed. His son and successor, Christian IV., was only in the 11th year of his age, and though his temper and disposition were good, yet Tycho had reason to be alarmed at the possibility of his discontinuing the patronage of astronomy. Thetaste for science, however, which had sprung up in the Danish Court had extended itself no wider than the influence of the reigning sovereign. The parasites of royalty saw themselves eclipsed in the bright renown which Tycho had acquired, and every new visit to Uraniburg by a foreign prince supplied fresh fuel to the rancour which had long been smothering in their breasts. The accession of a youthful king held out to his enemies an opportunity of destroying the influence of Tycho; and though no adverse step was taken, yet he had the sagacity to foresee, in “trifles light as air,” the approaching confirmation of his fears. Hope, however, still cheered him amid his labours, but that hope was founded chiefly on the learning and character of Nicolas Caasius, the Chancellor of the Kingdom, from whom he had experienced the warmest attentions.
Among the princes who visited Uraniburg, there were none who conducted themselves with more condescension and generosity than our own sovereign, James VI. In the year 1590, when the Scottish King repaired to Denmark to celebrate his marriage with the Princess Anne, the King’s sister, he paid a visit to Tycho,attended by his councillors and a large suite of nobility. During the eight days which he spent at Uraniburg, James carried on long discussions with Tycho on various subjects, but chiefly on the motion which Copernicus had ascribed to the earth. He examined narrowly all the astronomical instruments, and made himself acquainted with the principles of their construction and the method of using them. He inspected the busts and pictures in the museum, and when he perceived the portrait of George Buchanan, his own preceptor, he could not refrain from the strongest expressions of delight. Upon quitting the hospitable roof of Tycho, James not only presented him with a magnificent donation, but afterwards gave him his royal license to publish his works in England during seventy years. This license was accompanied with the following high eulogium on his abilities and learning:—“Nor have I become acquainted with these things only from the relation of others, or from a bare inspection of your works, but I have seen then before my own eyes, and have heard them with my own ears, in your residence at Uraniburg, and have drawn them from the various learned and agreeableconversations which I there held with you, and which even now affect my mind to such a degree, that it is difficult to determine whether I recollect them with greater pleasure or admiration; as I now willingly testify, by this license, to present and to future generations,” &c.
At the request of Tycho, the King also composed and wrote in his own hand some Latin verses, which were more complimentary than classical. His Chancellor had also composed some verses of a similar character during his visit to Tycho. A short specimen of these will be deemed sufficient by the classical reader:—
“Vidit et obstupuit Rex Huennum Scoticus almam;Miratus clari tot monumenta viri.”
“Vidit et obstupuit Rex Huennum Scoticus almam;Miratus clari tot monumenta viri.”
In the year 1591, when Christian IV. had reached his 14th year, he expressed a desire to pay a visit to Uraniburg. He accordingly set out with a large party, consisting of his three principal senators, and other councillors and noblemen; and having examined the various instruments in the observatories and laboratory, he proposed to Tycho various questions on mechanics and mathematics, but particularly on the principles of fortification and ship building.Having observed that he particularly admired a brass globe, which, by means of internal wheelwork, imitated the diurnal motion of the heavens, the rising and setting of the sun, and the phases of the moon, Tycho made him a present of it, and received in return an elegant gold chain, with his Majesty’s picture, with an assurance of his unalterable attachment and protection.
Notwithstanding this assurance, Tycho had already, as we have stated, begun to suspect the designs of his enemies; and in a letter addressed to the Landgrave of Hesse, early in 1591, he throws out some hints which indicated the anxieties that agitated his mind. The Landgrave of Hesse, as if he had heard some rumours unfavourable to the prospects of Tycho, requested him to write him respecting the state of the Kingdom, and concerning his own private affairs. To this letter, which was dated early in February, Tycho replied about the beginning of April. He informed the Landgrave that he led a private life in his own island, exempt from all official functions, and never willingly taking a part in public affairs. He was desirous of leaving the ambition of public honoursto others, and of devoting himself wholly to the study of philosophy and astronomy; and he expressed a hope that if he should be involved in the tumults and troubles of life, either by his own destiny or by evil counsels, he might be able, by the blessing of God, to extricate himself by the force of his mind and the integrity of his life. He comforted himself with the idea that every soil was the country of a great man, and that wherever he went the blue sky would still be over his head;[39]and he distinctly states at the close of his letter, that he had thought of transferring his residence to some other place, as there were some of the King’s councillors who had already begun to calumniate his studies, and to grudge him his pension from the treasury.
The causes which led to this change of feeling on the part of Christian IV.’s advisers have not been explained by the biographers of Tycho. It has been stated, in general terms, that he had made many enemies, by the keenness of his temper and the severity of his satire; but I have not been able to discover any distinct examples of these peculiarities of his mind. In anevent, indeed, which occurred about this time, he slightly resented a piece of marked incivility on the part of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick, who had married the Princess Eliza of Denmark; but it is not likely that so trivial an affair, if it were known at court, could have called down upon him the hostility of the King’s advisers.
The Duke of Brunswick had, in 1590, paid a visit to Uraniburg, and had particularly admired an antique brass statue of Mercury, about a cubit long, which Tycho had placed in the roof of the hypocaust or central crypt of the Stiern-berg observatory. By means of a concealed mechanism, it moved round in a circular orbit. The Duke requested the statue and its machinery, which Tycho gave him, on the condition that he should obtain a model of it, for the purpose of having another executed by a skilful workman. The Duke not only forgot his promise, but paid no attention to the letters which were addressed to him. Tycho was justly irritated at this unprincely conduct, and ordered this anecdote to be inserted in the description of Uraniburg which he was now preparing for publication.
In the year 1592, Tycho lost his distinguished friend and correspondent the Prince of Hesse, and astronomy one of its most active and intelligent cultivators. His grief on this occasion was deep and sincere, and he gave utterance to his feelings in an impassioned elegy, in which he recorded the virtues and talents of his friend. Prince Maurice, the son and successor of the Landgrave, continued, with the assistance of able observers, to keep up the reputation of the observatory of Hesse-Cassel; and the observations which were there made were afterwards published by Snellius. The extensive and valuable correspondence between Tycho and the Landgrave was prepared for publication about the beginning of 1593, and contains also the letters of Rothman and Rantzau.
For several years the studies of Tycho had been treated with an unwilling toleration by the Danish Court. Many of the nobles envied the munificent establishment which he had received from Frederick, and the liberal pension which he drew from his treasury. But among his most active enemies were some physicians, who envied his reputation as a successful and a gratuitous practitioner of the healing art. Numbersof invalids flocked to Huen, and diseases, which resisted all other methods of cure, are said to have yielded to the panaceal prescription of the astrologer. Under the influence of such motives, these individuals succeeded in exciting against Tycho the hostility of the court. They drew the public attention to the exhausted state of the treasury. They maintained that he had possessed too long the estate in Norway, which might be given to men who laboured more usefully for the commonwealth; and they accused him of allowing the chapel at Rothschild to fall into decay. The President of the Council, Christopher Walchendorp, and the King’s Chancellor, were the most active of the enemies of Tycho; and, having poisoned the mind of their sovereign against the most meritorious of his subjects, Tycho was deprived of his canonry, his estate in Norway, and his pension.
Being no longer able to bear the expenses of his establishment in Huen, and dreading that the feelings which had been excited against him might be still further roused, so as to deprive him of the Island of Huen itself, he resolved to transfer his instruments to some other situation.Notwithstanding this resolution, he remained with his family in the island, and continued his observations till the spring of 1597, when he took a house in Copenhagen, and removed to it all his smaller and more portable instruments, leaving those which were large or fixed in the crypts of Stiern-berg. His first plan was to remove every thing from Huen as a measure of security; but the public feeling began to turn in his favour, and there were many good men in Copenhagen who did not scruple to reprobate the conduct of the government. The President of the Council, Walchendorp—a name which, while the heavens revolve, will be pronounced with horror by astronomers—saw the change of sentiment which his injustice had produced, and adopted an artful method of sheltering himself from public odium. In consequence of a quarrel with Tycho, the recollection of which had rankled in his breast, he dreaded to be the prime mover in his persecution. He therefore appointed a committee of two persons, one of whom was Thomas Feuchius, to report to the government on the nature and utility of the studies of Tycho. These two individuals were entirely ignorant of astronomyand the use of instruments; and even if they had not, they would have been equally subservient to the views of the minister. They reported that the studies of Tycho were of no value, and that they were not only useless, but noxious. Armed with this report, Walchendorp prohibited Tycho, in the King’s name, from continuing his chemical experiments; and instigated, no doubt, by this wicked minister, an attack was made upon himself, and his shepherd or his steward was injured in the affray. Tycho was provoked to revenge himself upon his enemies, and the judge was commanded not to interfere in the matter.
Thus persecuted by his enemies, Tycho resolved to remain no longer in an ungrateful country. He carried from Huen every thing that was moveable, and having packed up his instruments, his crucibles, and his books, he hired a ship to convey them to some foreign land. His wife, his five sons and four daughters, his male and his female servants, and many of his pupils and assistants, among whom were Tengnagel, his future son-in-law, and the celebrated Longomontanus, embarked atCopenhagen, to seek the hospitality of some better country than their own.
Freighted with the glory of Denmark, this interesting bark made the best of its way across the Baltic, and arrived safely at Rostoch. Here the exiled patriarch found many of his early friends, particularly Henry Bruce, an able astronomer, to whom he had formerly presented one of his brass quadrants. The approach of the plague, however, prevented Tycho from making any arrangements for a permanent residence; and, having received a warm invitation from Count Henry Rantzau, who lived in Holstein at the Castle of Wandesberg, near Hamburg, he went with all his family, about the end of 1597, to enjoy the hospitality of his friend.
Though Tycho derived the highest pleasure from the kindness and conversation of Count Rantzau, yet a cloud overshadowed the future, and he had yet to seek for a patron and a home. His hopes were fixed on the Emperor Rudolph, who was not only fond of science, but who was especially addicted to alchemy and astrology, and his friend Rantzau promised to have himintroduced to the Emperor by proper letters. When Tycho learned that Rudolph was particularly fond of mechanical instruments and of chemistry, he resolved to complete and to dedicate to him his work on the mechanics of astronomy, and to add to it an account of his chemical labours. This task he soon performed, and his work appeared in 1598 under the title ofTychonis Brahe, Astronomiæ instauratæ Mechanica. Along with this work he transmitted to the Emperor a copy of his MS. catalogue of 1000 fixed stars.
With these proofs of his services to science, and instigated by various letters in his favour, the Emperor Rudolph desired his Vice-Chancellor to send for Tycho, and to assure him that he would be received according to his great merits, and that nothing should be wanting to promote his scientific studies. Leaving his wife and daughters at Wandesberg, and taking with him his sons and his pupils, Tycho went to Wittemberg; but having learned that the plague had broken out at Prague, and that the Emperor had gone to Pilsen, he deferred for a while his journey into Bohemia.
Early in the spring of 1599, when the pestilencehad ceased at Prague, and the Emperor had returned to his capital, Tycho set out for Bohemia. On his arrival at Prague, he found a splendid house ready for his reception, and a kind message from the Emperor, prohibiting him from paying his respects to him till he had recovered from the fatigues of his journey. On his presentation to Rudolph, the generous Emperor received him with the most distinguished kindness. He announced to him that he was to receive an annual pension of 3000 crowns; that an estate would as soon as possible be settled upon him and his family and their successors; that a town house would be provided for him; and that he might have his choice of various castles and houses in the country as the site of his observatory and laboratory. The Emperor had also taken care to provide every thing that was necessary for Tycho’s immediate wants; and so overwhelmed was he with such unexpected kindness, that he remarked that, as he could not find words to express his gratitude, the whole heavens would speak for him, and posterity should know what a refuge his great and good Sovereign had been to the Queen of the Arts.
Among the numerous friends whom Tycho found at Prague, were his correspondents Coroducius and Hagecius, and his benefactor Barrovitius, the Emperor’s secretary. He was congratulated by them all on his distinguished reception at court, and was regarded as the Æneas of science, who had been driven from his peaceful home, and who had carried with him to the Latium of Germany his wife, his children, and his household gods. If external circumstances could remove the sorrows of the past, Tycho must now have been supremely happy. In his spacious mansion, which had belonged to his friend Curtius, he found a position for one of his best instruments, and having covered with poetical inscriptions the four sides of the pedestal on which it stood, in honour of his benefactors, as well as of former astronomers, he resumed with diligence his examination of the stars.
When Rudolph saw the magnificent instruments which Tycho had brought along with him, and had acquired some knowledge of their use, he pressed him to send to Denmark for the still larger ones which he had left at Stiern-berg. In the meantime, he gave him the choice of thecastles of Brandisium, Lyssa, and Benach as his country residence; and after visiting them about the end of May, Tycho gave the preference to Benach, which was situated upon a rising ground, and commanded an extensive horizon. It contained splendid and commodious buildings, and was almost, as he calls it, a small city, situated on the stream Lisor, near its confluence with the Albis. It stood a little to the east and north of Prague, and was distant from that city only five German miles, or about six hours’ journey.
On the 20th of August, the Prefect of Brandisium gave Tycho possession of his new residence. His gratitude to his royal patron was copiously displayed, not only in a Latin poem written on the occasion, but in Latin inscriptions which he placed above the doors of his observatory and his laboratory. In order that he might establish an astronomical school at Prague, he wrote to Longomontanus, Kepler, Muller, David Fabricius, and two students at Wittemberg, who were good calculators, requesting them to reside with him at Benach, as his assistants and pupils: He at the same time dispatched his destined son-in-law, Tengnagel,accompanied by Pascal Muleus, to bring home his wife and daughters from Wandesberg, and his instruments from Huen; and he begged that Longomontanus would accompany them to Denmark, and return in the same carriage with them to Bohemia.
Kepler arrived at Prague in January 1600, and, after spending three or four months at Benach, in carrying on his inquiries and in making astronomical observations, he returned to Gratz. Tycho had undertaken to obtain for him the appointment of his assistant. It was arranged that the Emperor should allow him a hundred florins, on the condition that the states of Styria would permit him to retain his salary for two years. This scheme, however, failed, and Kepler was about to study medicine, and offer himself for a professorship of medicine at Tubingen, when Tycho undertook to obtain him a permanent appointment from the Emperor. Kepler, accordingly, returned in September 1601, and, on the recommendation of his friend, he was named imperial mathematician, on the condition of assisting Tycho in his observations.
Tycho had experienced much inconveniencein his residence at Benach, from his ignorance of the language and customs of the country, as well as from other causes. He was therefore anxious to transfer his instruments to Prague; and no sooner were his wishes conveyed to the Emperor than he gave him leave to send them to the royal gardens and the adjacent buildings. His family and his larger instruments having now arrived from Huen, the astronomer with his family and his property were safely lodged in the royal edifice. Having found that there was no house in Prague more suited for his purposes than that of his late friend Curtius, the Emperor purchased it from his widow, and Tycho removed into it on the 25th February 1601.
Tycho resumes his Astronomical Observations—Is attacked with a Painful Disease—His Sufferings and Death in 1601—His Funeral—His Temper—His Turn for Satire and Raillery—His Piety—Account of his Astronomical Discoveries—His Love of Astrology and Alchymy—Observations on the Character of the Alchymists—Tycho’s Elixir—His Fondness for the Marvellous—His Automata and Invisible Bells—Account of the Idiot, called Lep, whom he kept as a Prophet—History of Tycho’s Instruments—His great Brass Globe preserved at Copenhagen—Present state of the Island of Huen.
Although Tycho continued in this new position to observe the planets with his usual assiduity, yet the recollection of his sufferings, and the inconveniences and disappointments which he had experienced, began to prey upon his mind, and to affect his health. Notwithstanding the continued liberality of the Emperor, and the kindness of his friends and pupils, he was yet a stranger in a distant land. Misfortunewas unable to subdue that love of country which was one of the most powerful of his affections; and, though its ingratitude might have broken the chain which bound him to the land of his nativity, it seems only to have rivetted it more firmly. His imagination, thus influenced, acquired an undue predominance over his judgment. He viewed the most trifling occurrences as supernatural indications; and in those azure moments when the clouds broke from his mind, and when he displayed his usual wit and pleasantry, he frequently turned the conversation to the subject of his latter end.
This state of mind was the forerunner, though probably the effect, of a painful disease, which had, doubtless, its origin in the severity and continuity of his studies. On the 13th October, when he was supping at the house of a nobleman called Rosenberg, he was seized with a retention of urine, which forced him to leave the party.
This attack continued with little intermission for more than a week, and, during this period, he suffered great pain, attended with want of sleep and temporary delirium, during which, he frequently exclaimed,Ne frustra vixisse videor.On the 24th he recovered from this painful situation, and became perfectly tranquil. His strength, however, was gone, and he saw that he had not many hours to live. He expressed an anxious wish that his labours would redound to the glory of his Maker, to whom he offered up the most ardent prayers. He enjoined his sons and his son-in-law not to allow them to be lost. He encouraged his pupils not to abandon their pursuits, he requested Kepler to complete the Rudolphine Tables, and to his family he recommended piety and resignation to the Divine will. Among those who never quitted Tycho in his illness, was Erick Brahe, Count Wittehorn, a Swede, and a relation of his own, and Counsellor to the King of Poland. This amiable individual never left the bedside of his friend, and administered to him all those attentions which his situation required. Tycho, turning to him, thanked him for his affectionate kindness, and requested him to maintain the relationship with his family. He then expired without pain, amid the consolations, the prayers, and the tears of his friends. This event took place on the 24th of October 1601,when he was only fifty-four years and ten months old.
The Emperor Rudolph evinced the greatest sorrow when he was informed of the death of his friend, and he gave orders that he should be buried in the most honourable manner, in the principal church of the ancient city.[40]The funeral took place on the 4th November, and he was interred in the dress of a nobleman, and with the ceremonies of his order. The funeral oration was pronounced by Jessenius, before a distinguished assemblage, and many elegies were written on his death.
Tycho was a little above the middle size, and in the last years of his life he was slightly corpulent. He had reddish yellow hair and a ruddy complexion. He was of a sanguine temperament, and is said to have been sometimes irritable, and even obstinate. This failing, however, if he did possess it, was not exhibited towards his pupils or his scientific friends, who ever entertained for him the warmest affection and esteem. Some of his pupils had remained inhis house more than twenty years; and in the quarrel which arose between him and Kepler,[41]and which is allowed to have originated entirely in the temper of the latter, he conducted himself with the greatest patience and forbearance. There is reason to think that the irritability with which he has been charged was less an affection of his mind than the effect of that noble independence of character which belonged to him, and that it has been inferred chiefly from his conduct to some of those high personages with whom he was brought in contact. When Walchendorp, the President of the Council, kicked his favourite hound, it was no proof of irritability of character that Tycho expressed in strong terms his disapprobation of the deed.
It was, doubtless, a greater weakness in his character that he indulged his turn for satire, without being able to bear retaliation. His jocular habits, too, sometimes led him into disagreeable positions. When the Duke of Brunswick was dining with him at Uraniburg, the Duke said, towards the end of the dinner, that, as it was late, he must be going. Tycho jocularlyremarked that this could not be done without his permission; upon which the Duke rose and left the party, without taking leave of his host. Tycho became indignant in his turn, and continued to sit at table; but, as if repenting of what he had done, he followed the Duke, who was on his way to the ship, and, calling upon him, displayed the cup in his hand, as if he had washed out his offence by a draught of wine.
Tycho was a man of true piety, and cherished the deepest veneration for the Sacred Scriptures, and for the great truths which they reveal. Their principles regulated his conduct, and their promises animated his hopes. His familiarity with the wonders of the heavens increased, instead of diminishing, his admiration of Divine wisdom, and his daily conversation was elevated by a constant reference to a superintending Providence.
As a practical astronomer, Tycho has not been surpassed by any observer of ancient or of modern times. The splendour and number of his instruments, the ingenuity which he exhibited in inventing new ones and in improving and adding to those which were formerly known,and his skill and assiduity as an observer, have given a character to his labours, and a value to his observations, which will be appreciated to the latest posterity. The appearance of the new star in 1572 led him to form a catalogue of 777 stars, vastly superior in accuracy to those of Hipparchus and Ulugh Beig. His improvements on the lunar theory were still more valuable. He discovered the important inequality called thevariation, and also the annual inequality which depends on the position of the earth in its orbit. He discovered, also, the inequality in the inclination of the moon’s orbit, and in the motion of her nodes. He determined with new accuracy the astronomical refractions from an altitude of 45° down to the horizon, where he found it to be 34´; and he made a vast collection of observations on the planets, which formed the groundwork of Kepler’s discoveries and the basis of the Rudolphine Tables. Tycho’s powers of observation were not equalled by his capacity for general views. It was, perhaps, owing more to his veneration for the Scriptures than to the vanity of giving his name to a new system that he rejected the Copernican hypothesis. Hencehe was led to propose a new system, called the Tychonic, in which the earth is stationary in the centre of the universe, while the sun, with all the other planets and comets revolving round him, performs his daily revolution about the earth. This arrangement of the planets afforded a sufficient explanation of the various phenomena of the heavens; and as it was consistent with the language of Scripture, and conformable to the indications of the senses, it found many supporters, notwithstanding the physical absurdity of making the whole system revolve round one of the smallest of the planets.
It is a painful transition to pass from the astronomical labours of Tycho to his astrological and chemical pursuits. That Tycho studied and practised astrology has been universally admitted. He calculated the nativity of the Emperor Rudolph, and foretold that his relations would make some attempts upon his life. The credulous Emperor confided in the prediction, and when the conduct of his brother seemed to justify his belief, he confined himself to his palace, and fell a prey to the fear which it inspired. Tycho, however, seems to have entirely renounced his astrological faith in hislatter days; and Kepler states,[42]in the most pointed manner, that Tycho carried on his astronomical labours with his mind entirely free from the superstitions of astrology; that he derided and detested the vanity and knavery of astrologers, and was convinced that the stars exercised no influence on the destinies of men.
Although Tycho informed Rothman that he devoted as much labour and expense to the study of terrestrial (chemistry) as he did to that of celestial astronomy, yet it is a singular fact that he never published any account of his experiments, nor has he left among his writings any trace of his chemical inquiries. He pretended, however, to have made discoveries in the science, and we should have been disposed to reprobate the apology which he makes for not publishing them, did we not know that it had been frequently given by the other alchemists of the age—“On consideration,” says he, “and by the advice of the most learned men, I thought it improper to unfold the secrets of the art (of alchemy) to the vulgar, as few personswere capable of using its mysteries to advantage and without detriment.”
Admitting then, as we must do, that Tycho was not only a professed alchemist, but that he was practically occupied with its pursuits, and continually misled by its delusions, it may not be uninteresting to the reader to consider how far a belief in alchemy, and a practice of its arts, have a foundation in the weakness of human nature; and to what extent they are compatible with the piety and elevated moral feeling by which our author was distinguished.
In the history of human errors two classes of impostors, of very different characters, present themselves to our notice—those who wilfully deluded their species, and those who permitted their species to delude themselves. The first of those classes consisted of the selfish tyrants who upheld an unjust supremacy by systematic delusions, and of grovelling mountebanks who quenched their avaricious thirst at the fountains of credulity and ignorance. The second class comprehended spirits of a nobler mould: It embraced the speculative enthusiasts, whom the love of fame and of truth urged onward, ina fruitless research, and those great lights of knowledge and of virtue, who, while they stood forward as the landmarks of the age which they adorned, had neither the intellectual nor the moral courage to divest themselves of the supernatural radiance with which the ignorance of the vulgar had encircled them.
The thrones and shrines, which delusion once sustained even in the civilized quarter of the globe, are for ever fallen, and that civil and religious liberty, which in past ages was kept down by the marvellous exhibitions of science to the senses, is now maintained by its application to the reason of man. The charlatans, whether they deal in moral or in physical wonders, form a race which is never extinct. They migrate to the different zones of the social system, and though they change their place, and their purposes, and their victims, yet their character and motives remain the same. The philosophical mind, therefore, is not disposed to study either of these varieties of impostors; but the other two families which compose the second class are objects of paramount interest. The eccentricities and even the obliquities of great minds merit the scrutiny of the metaphysicianand the moralist, and they derive a peculiar interest from the state of society in which they are exhibited. Had Cardan and Cornelius Agrippa lived in modern times, their vanity and self-importance would have been checked by the forms of society, and even if their harmless pretensions had been displayed, they would have disappeared in the blaze of their genius and knowledge. But nursed in superstition, and educated in dark and turbulent times, when every thing intellectual was in a state of restless transition, the genius and character of great men necessarily reflected the peculiarities of the age in which they lived.
Had history transmitted to us correct details of the leading alchemists and scientific magicians of the dark ages, we should have been able to analyse their actions and their opinions, and trace them, probably, to the ordinary principles by which the human mind is in every age influenced and directed. But when a great man has once become an object either of interest or of wonder, and still more when he is considered as the possessor of knowledge and skill which transcend the capacity of the age, he is soon transformed into the hero of romance. His powersare overrated, his deeds exaggerated, and he becomes the subject of idle legends, which acquire a firmer hold on credulity from the slight sprinkling of truth with which they are seasoned. To disclaim the possession of lofty attributes thus ascribed to great men is a degree of humility which is not often exercised. But even when this species of modesty is displayed, it never fails to defeat its object. It but calls forth a deeper homage, and fixes the demigod more firmly in his shrine.
The history of learning furnishes us with many examples of that species of delusion in which a great mind submits itself to vulgar adulation, and renounces unwillingly, if it renounces at all, the unenviable reputation of supernatural agency. In cases where self-interest and ambition are the basis of this peculiarity of temperament, and in an age when the conjuror and the alchemist were the companions and even the idols of princes, it is easy to trace the steps by which a gifted sage retains his ascendancy among the ignorant. The hecatomb which is sacrificed to the magician, he receives as an oblation to his science, and conscious of possessing real endowments, the idol devoursthe meats that are offered to him without analysing the motives and expectations under which he is fed. But even when the idolater and his god are not placed in this transverse relation, the love of power or of notoriety is sufficient to induce good men to lend a too willing ear to vulgar testimony in favour of themselves; and in our own times it is not common to repudiate the unmerited cheers of a popular assembly, or to offer a contradiction to fictitious tales which record our talents or our courage, our charity or our piety.
The conduct of the scientific alchemists of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries presents a problem of very difficult solution. When we consider that a gas, a fluid, and a solid may consist of the very same ingredients in different proportions; that a virulent poison may differ from the most wholesome food only in the difference of quantity of the very same elements; that gold and silver, and lead and mercury, and indeed all the metals, may be extracted from transparent crystals, which scarcely differ in their appearance from a piece of common salt or a bit of sugarcandy; and that diamond is nothing more than charcoal,—weneed not greatly wonder at the extravagant expectation that the precious metals and the noblest gems might be procured from the basest materials. These expectations, too, must have been often excited by the startling results of their daily experiments. The most ignorant compounder of simples could not fail to witness the magical transformations of chemical action; and every new product must have added to the probability that the tempting doublets of gold and silver might be thrown from the dice-box with which he was gambling.
But when the precious metals were found in lead and copper by the action of powerful re-agents, it was natural to suppose that they had been actually formed during the process; and men of well-regulated minds even might have thus been led to embark in new adventures to procure a more copious supply, without any insult being offered to sober reason, or any injury inflicted on sound morality.
When an ardent and ambitious mind is once dazzled with the fascination of some lofty pursuit, where gold is the object, or fame the impulse, it is difficult to pause in a doubtful career, and to make a voluntary shipwreck ofthe reputation which has been staked. Hope still cheers the aspirant from failure to failure, till the loss of fortune and the decay of credit disturb the serenity of his mind, and hurry him on to the last resource of baffled ingenuity and disappointed ambition. The philosopher thus becomes an impostor; and by the pretended transmutation of the baser metals into gold, or the discovery of the philosopher’s stone, he attempts to sustain his sinking reputation, and recover the fortune he has lost. The communication of the great secret is now the staple commodity with which he is to barter, and the grand talisman with which he is to conjure. It can be imparted only to a chosen few—to those among the opulent who merit it by their virtues, and can acquire it by their diligence, and the divine vengeance is threatened against its disclosure. A process commencing in fraud and terminating in mysticism is conveyed to the wealthy aspirant, or instilled into the young enthusiast, and the grand mystery passes current for a season, till some cautious professor of the art, like Tycho, denounces its publication as detrimental to society.
Among the extravagant pretensions of thealchemists, that of forming a universal medicine was perhaps not the most irrational. It was only when they pretended to cure every disease, and to confer longevity, that they did violence to reason. The success of the Arabian physicians in the use of mercurial preparations naturally led to the belief that other medicines, still more general in their application, and efficacious in their healing powers, might yet be brought to light; and we have no doubt that many substantial discoveries were the result of such overstrained expectations. Tycho was not merely a believer in the medical dogmas of the alchemists, he was actually the discoverer of a newelixir, which went by his name, and which was sold in every apothecary’s shop as a specific against the epidemic diseases which were then ravaging Germany. The Emperor Rudolph having heard of this celebrated medicine, obtained a small portion of it from Tycho by the hands of the Governor of Brandisium; but, not satisfied with the gift, he seems to have applied to Tycho for an account of the method of preparing it. Tycho accordingly addressed to the Emperor a long letter, dated September 7, 1599, containing a minute account of theprocess. The base of this remarkable medicine is Venetian treacle, which undergoes an infinity of chemical operations and admixtures before it is ready for the patient. When properly prepared he assures the Emperor that it is better than gold, and that it may be made still more valuable by mixing with it a single scruple either of the tincture of corals, or sapphire, or hyacinth, or a solution of pearls, or of potable gold, if it can be obtained free of all corrosive matter! In order to render the medicineuniversalfor all diseases which can be cured by perspiration, and which, he says, form a third of those which attack the human frame, he combines it with antimony, a well known sudorific in the present practice of physic. Tycho concludes his letter by humbly beseeching the Emperor to keep the process secret, and reserve the medicine for himself alone!
The same disposition of mind which made Tycho an astrologer and an alchemist, inspired him with a singular love of the marvellous.
He had various automata with which he delighted to astonish the peasants; and by means of invisible bells, which communicated with every part of his establishment, and which rungwith the gentlest touch, he had great pleasure in bringing any of his pupils suddenly before strangers, muttering at a particular time the words “Come hither, Peter,” as if he had commanded their presence by some supernatural agency. If, on leaving home, he met with an old woman or a hare, he returned immediately to his house: But the most extraordinary of all his peculiarities remains to be noticed. When he lived at Uraniburg he maintained an idiot of the name of Lep, who lay at his feet whenever he sat down to dinner, and whom he fed with his own hand. Persuaded that his mind, when moved, was capable of foretelling future events, Tycho carefully marked every thing he said. Lest it should be supposed that this was done to no purpose, Longomontanus relates that when any person in the island was sick, Lep never, when interrogated, failed to predict whether the patient would live or die. It is stated also in the letters of Wormius, both to Gassendi and Peyter, that when Tycho was absent, and his pupils became very noisy and merry in consequence of not expecting him soon home, the idiot, who was present, exclaimed,Juncher xaa laudit, “Your master has arrived.”On another occasion, when Tycho had sent two of his pupils to Copenhagen on business, and had fixed the day of their return, Lep surprised him on that day while he was at dinner, by exclaiming, “Behold your pupils are bathing in the sea.” Tycho, suspecting that they were shipwrecked, sent some person to the observatory to look for their boat. The messenger brought back word that he saw some persons wet on the shore, and in distress, with a boat upset at a great distance. These stories have been given by Gassendi, and may be viewed as specimens of the superstition of the age.
Tycho left behind him a wife and six children, but even in the time of Gassendi nothing was known of their history, excepting that Tengnagel, who married one of the daughters, gave up his scientific pursuits, and, having been admitted among the Emperor’s counsellors, was employed in several of his embassies.
The instruments of Tycho were purchased from his heirs, by the Emperor, for 22,000 crowns. They were shut up in the house of Curtius, and were treated with such veneration, that no astronomer, not even Kepler himself, was permitted to see or to use them.
Here they remained till the death of the Emperor Matthias, in 1619, when the troubles in Bohemia took place. When Prague was taken by the forces of the Elector Palatine, the instruments were carried off, and some were destroyed, and others converted to different purposes. The great brass globe, however, was saved. It was first carried to Niessa, the episcopal city of Silesia; and having been presented to the College of Jesuits, it was preserved in their museum, till Udalric, the son of Christian, King of Denmark, took Niessa in 1632. The globe was recognized as having belonged to Tycho, and it was carried in triumph to Denmark. An inscription was written upon it by Longomontanus, and it was deposited with some pomp in the Library of the Academy of Sciences.
After Tycho left Huen, the island was transferred to some of the Danish nobility, and the following brief but melancholy description of it was given by Wormius. “There is, in the island, a field where Uraniburg was.” The scientific antiquities of Huen, have been more recently described by Mr Cox, in his travels through Denmark.
“We landed,” says he, “on the south westpart in a small bay, just below the place where a stream, supplied by numerous pools and fish ponds, falls into the sea. We ascended the shore, which is clothed with short herbage, crossed the stream, and passed over a gently waving surface, gradually sloping towards the sea, and walked a mile to a farm house, standing in the middle of the island, inhabited by Mr Schaw, a Swedish gentleman, to whom the greater part of the island belongs. He lives here in summer, but in winter resides at Landscrona. This dwelling is the same as existed in Tycho Brahe’s time, and was the farm house belonging to his estate. A guide, whom we obtained from Mr Schaw, conducted us to the remains of Tycho’s mansion, which are near the house, and consist of little more than a mound of earth which enclosed the garden, and two pits, the sites of his mansion and observatory.”[43]