LIFE OF TYCHO BRAHE.

CHAPTER I.

Tycho's Birth, Family, and Education-An Eclipse of the Sun turns his attention to Astronomy-Studies Law at LeipsicBut pursues Astronomy by stealth-His Uncle's Death-He returns to Copenhagen, and resumes his Observations-Revisits Germany-Fights a Duel, and loses his nose-Visits Augsburg, and meets Hainzel-Who assists him in making a large Quadrant-Revisits Denmark-And is warmly received by the King -He settles at his Uncle's Castle of Herritzvold-His Observatory and Laboratory-Discovers the new star in CassiopeiaAccount of this remarkable Body-Tycho's marriage with a Peasant Girl-Which irritates his friends-His Lectures on Astronomy-He visits the Prince of Hesse-Attends the Coronation of the Emperor Rudolph at Ratisbon-He returns to Denmark.

A

MONG the distinguished men who were destined to revive the sciences, and to establish the true system of the universe, Tycho Brahe holds a conspicuous place. He was born on the 14th December 1546, at Knudstorp, an estate of his ancestors, situated near Helsingborg, in Scania, and was the eldest son and the second child of a family of five sons and five daughters. His

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father, Otto Brahe, who was descended from a noble Swedish family, was in such straitened circumstances, that he resolved to educate his sons for the military profession; but Tycho seems to have disliked the choice that was made for him; and his next brother, Steno, who appears to have had a similar feeling, exchanged the sword for the more peaceful occupation of Privy Councillor to the King. The rest of his brothers, though of senatorial rank, do not seem to have extended the renown of their family; but their youngest sister, Sophia, is represented as an accomplished mathematician, and is said to have devoted her mind to astronomy as well as to the astrological reveries of

the age.

George Brahe, the brother of Otto, having no children of his own, resolved to adopt and to educate one of his nephews. On the birth of Tycho, accordingly, he was desirous of having him placed under his wife's care; but his parents could not be prevailed upon to part with their child till after the birth of Steno, their second son.

Having been instructed in reading and writing under proper masters, Tycho began the study of Latin in his seventh year; and, in opposition to his father's views, he prosecuted it for five years

under private teachers, from whom he received also occasional instruction in poetry and the belleslettres.

In April 1559, about three years after his father's death, Tycho was sent to the University of Copenhagen, to study rhetoric and philosophy, with the view of preparing for the study of the law, and qualifying himself for some of those political offices which his rank entitled him to expect. In this situation he contracted no fondness for any particular study; but after he had been sixteen months at college, an event occurred which directed all the powers of his mind to the science of astronomy. The attention of the public had been long fixed on a great eclipse of the sun, which was to happen on the 21st of August 1560; and as in those days a phenomenon of this kind was linked with the destinies of nations as well as of individuals, the interest which it excited was as intense as it was general. Tycho watched its arrival with peculiar anxiety. He read the astrological diaries of the day, in which its phases and its consequences were described; and when he saw the sun darkened at the very moment that had been predicted, and to the very extent that had been delineated, he resolved to make himself master of a science which was

capable of predicting future events, and especially that branch of it which connected these events with the fortunes and destinies of man. With this view he purchased the Tabula Bergenses, calculated by John Stadius, and began with ardour the study of the planetary motions.

When Tycho had completed his course at Copenhagen, he was sent, in February 1562, under the charge of a tutor, to study jurisprudence at Leipsic. Astronomy, however, engrossed all his thoughts; and he had no sooner escaped from the daily surveillance of his master, than he rushed with headlong impetuosity into his favourite pursuits. With his pocket-money he purchased astronomical books, which he read in secret; and by means of a celestial globe, the size of his fist, he made himself acquainted with the stars, and followed them night after night through the heavens, when sleep had lulled the vigilance of his preceptor. By means of the Ephemerides of Stadius, he learned to distinguish the planets, and to trace them through their direct and retrograde movements; and having obtained the Alphonsine and Prutenic Tables, and compared his own calculations and observations with those of Stadius, he observed great differences in the results, and from that moment he seems to