Page:Tycho brahe.djvu/319

Rh on which he might become associated with Tycho, and that he should let his literary productions be shown at Prague in order to pave the way for him there. The latter part of the advice was certainly superfluous, and Tycho himself was more than willing to accept Kepler's services. In a long letter which Tycho wrote from Benatky on the 9th December 1599, he expressed his hope of soon meeting Kepler, though he did not wish that the latter should be driven to him by misfortune, but by his own free will and his love of science, and he assured Kepler that he would find in him a friend who would always stand by him with help and counsel.

Tycho's letter did not find Kepler at Gratz. He had at last made up his mind to examine the state of things at Prague with his own eyes, and, encouraged by Baron Hoffmann, he started with this nobleman from Gratz on the 6th January 1600, and arrived at Prague about a fortnight later. On the 26th Tycho wrote to Hoffmann that he had with great pleasure heard of their arrival, and thanked Hoffmann for being the means of introducing Kepler to him. Tengnagel (who had just returned from his home in Westphalia) and Tycho's eldest son were the bearers of this letter, as well as of another for Kepler, in which Tycho apologised for not welcoming him in person, but he rarely went to Prague except when called by the Emperor; the oppositions of Mars and Jupiter were now to be observed, and the other three planets and a lunar eclipse likewise, so that he did not like to interrupt his work, but he would receive Kepler, not as a guest, but as a dear friend and colleague. On the 3rd February Kepler arrived at Benatky with a civil answer from Hoffmann, warmly recommending