Page:Tycho brahe.djvu/229

Rh Two days before his departure King James had at Kronborg assisted at the nuptials of the lady he had first wooed with Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Of course the Duke had also to be taken over to Hveen to see the wonders there, which he and his suite did on the 4th May; but this visit does not appear to have been as pleasant to Tycho as that of King James. The Duke took a fancy to the little revolving statue of Mercury which stood on the roof of the central room of Stjerneborg, and thought it would be a pretty toy to take home with him. Tycho had to give him permission to take it away with him, when the Duke had promised to send him an exact copy of it, which promise he never took the trouble to fulfil, though Tycho sent him several reminders. Gassendi tells a curious incident of this visit, which he had heard from Janszoon Blaev. At table the Duke remarked that it was getting late and he would have to take his leave, but Tycho, who perhaps was still annoyed at the loss of the statue, said in a joking way that it was his right to give the signal for breaking up. The Duke took offence at this and walked off towards the shore without taking leave, and when Tycho, who had first remained at table, after a little while followed him and offered him a stirrup-cup, the Duke turned away and continued his walk. Upon which Tycho let him go, and returned home without troubling himself more about his guest. This may be only gossip, but Tycho was certainly haughty and self-sufficient enough to have behaved in this manner even to the king's brother-in-law, and he probably made himself more than one powerful enemy by his overbearing manner.

A more welcome visitor arrived three months after this event in the person of the Landgrave's astronomer,