sbon--He returns to Denmark._

Among 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,
the estate of his ancestors, which is situated near Helsingborg, in
Scania, and was the eldest son and the second child of a family of five
sons and five daughters. His 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 belles lettres.

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 August 1560; and as
in those days a phenomenon of this kind was linked with the destinies of
nations as