Tycho was a man of the ordinary size, with light red hair, and a pleasing manly countenance. In his temper he was irritable and passionate, and even sul len and unbending. He possessed an unfortunate turn for satirical invective, without the power of bearing the raillery of others. The misfortunes of his life were perhaps owing to this unhappy propen sity, which frequently exposed him to the enmity of those vvho suffered front his wit. 13ut we have DO means of ascertaining whether this licence which he gave to his tongue was a foible, or a vice. His reli gious principles were too well founded, we think, to permit the supposition, that malice was in any case mingled with his satire4 The merits of Tycho as an astronomer have alrea dy been fully estimated in another part of our work.§ His miscellaneous labours have not yet fallen under our notice. That a philosopher like Tycho, addict ed to the study of the most demonstrative of the sciences, should have indulged in the pursuits of al chemy, and in the study of judicial astrology, must be ascribed, not only to the character of the times in which he lived, but to a natural love of the marvel lous, which seems to have been predominant in his mind. Even at Uraniburg, in the midst of his glory, his greatest delight was to astonish his visitors, by making his pupils appear before them without any apparent communication. If he met with an old wo man or a hare, lie Burst not prosecute his journey ; and he kept an idiot constantly beside him, whose incoherent expressions were stored up and examined by Tycho as the predictions of some supernatural being. A th.sire to be consulted as a fortune-teller was another of the failings of this extraordinary man. Ile calculated the nativity of his patron Rodoiph, and having predicted that some wicked designs would be practised against him by his relations, the timid emperor was seized w ith alarm ; and when the bad conduct of his brother seemed to verify the pre diction, he confined himself to his palace, and actual ly fell a pi ey to the fear which it inspired.
From these facts, we cannot be surprised at his at tachment to alchemy and astrology ; but we can find no explanation of the deceit which he must have practised, when he made an apology for not publish ing his chemical experiments. " On consideration," says he, " and by the advice of the most learned men, he thought it improper to unfold the secrets of the art (of alchemy) to the vulgar, as few people were capable of using its mysteries to advantage, and without detriment." Medicine was also a favourite study with Tycho. He gave his medicines and his advice gratis ; and he published an account of the composition of an elixir for the plague, which was addressed to the Emperor Rodolph.
Tycho was likewise a worshipper of the muses. He wrote Latin verses, and composed a poem on his exile, which was published at Rostock in 1614 His taste for architecture seems to have been good. lie drew the plan of the castle of Cronberg, and sketch ed the design for the mausoleum of Frederick the Second, which was executed in Italy, and erected in the cathedral of Roschild.
Beside the works which we have mentioned, Ty cho wrote the following : Astrononzire instauratee Pro gymnasmata : quorum hoer prima Jars de restiturione motuum solis et lone, stellaromque inerrantionz trac tat, 1602, 4to mundi tetherei reeentioribus the nomenis liber secundus, 1603, 4to diseiplinis znathematicis oratio, in qua .simul astrologia defendi tor, ct ab objectionibus dasentientium vindicator, Hamburg, 4to, 1621. The works of Tycho were pub lished at Frankfort in 4to, in 1618. In 1657 a col lection of his observations was published at Vienna in folio, under the title of Lucii Baretti (Alberti Coral) Sylloge •erdinandea, sive Collectanca historix cars iis e commentariis MSS. observationunz Tychonis Brahe ab anno 1532 ad annum 1601 ; and afterwards in 2 vols folio, at Augsburg, under the title of His toria Celestis eomplectens observationes 7'ychozzis. The last of these works, which is a most valuable collection of observations, occupies more than 1000 folio pages ; and was afterwards reprinted at Augs burg and Vienna in 1668 ; at Ratisbon in 167'2, and at Dillingen in 1675, &c. Re. The Rudolphine Ta bles, which Tycho left unfinished, were published at Ulm in 1627, in folio, entitled Jo. Kelderi Tabula.' Rudolphinx, quibus ?stronomicx scientlx, temporum longinquitate eollapsx, restau'atio continetur, a Ty chone Brahe primunz animo concetta et destinata wino Our. 1564, exinde observationibus siderum accuratissi mis post annum precipue 1572, seria affcctata, tan dem traducta in Germaniam inque aulam et nomen Rudolphi Imp. anno 1598.
The instruments of Tycho were purchased by the Emperor Rodolphus for 22,000 crowns of gold.— During the troubles of Bohemia, the army of the Elector Palatine destroyed the greater part of them ; but the great celestial globe of brass was preserved, and deposited with the Jesuits of Neyssa in Silesia. In 1633, Udalric, the son of Christain, king of Den mark, carried it to Copenhagen, and placed it in the hall of the Royal Academy.
See Gassendi Vita Tychonis Brahe, &c. Paris. 1654: Coxe's Travels in Denmark, vol. v. p. 191; De vita et morte illustris. et generosi viri TYC MONIS BRAISE!, oratiofitnebris Joh. Jessenii a Jessen. Pragm 1601 ; and a Life of Tycho by \Veistriss, published in Danish and in German. The German translation ap peared at Leipsig in 1756, in 2 vols. 8vo. (p)