Tycho's imperious and grasping character frequently brought him into
difficulties, which seem to have increased with his advancing years.
He had ill-treated one of his tenants on Hven, and an adverse
decision by the courts seems to have greatly exasperated the
astronomer. Serious changes also took place in his relations to the
court at Copenhagen. When the young king was crowned in 1596, he
reversed the policy of his predecessor with reference to Hven. The
liberal allowances to Tycho were one after another withdrawn, and
finally even his pension was stopped. Tycho accordingly abandoned
Hven in a tumult of rage and mortification. A few years later we
find him in Bohemia a prematurely aged man, and he died on the 24th
October, 1601.
GALILEO.
Among the ranks of the great astronomers it would be difficult to
find one whose life presents more interesting features and remarkable
vicissitudes than does that of Galileo. We may consider him as the
patient investigator and brilliant discoverer. We may consider him
in his private relations, especially to his daughter, Sister Maria
Celeste, a woman of very remarkable character; and we have also the
pathetic drama at the close of Galileo's life, when the philosopher
drew down upon himself the thunders of the Inquisition.
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