eet till
he was relieved at his own request, and was able to sail for England on
the 18th of June. He gave a proof of his regard for the service of the
country by taking his passage home in a small brig rather than withdraw
a line of battle ship from the squadron, which his rank entitled him to
do, and as other admirals of the time generally did. The British sailors
and ships embargoed in Russia were released on the 17th of May. Great
Britain released her prisoners on the 4th of June, and on the 17th of
June was signed the convention which terminated the Baltic campaign.

See _Dispatches and Letters of Vice-Admiral Nelson_, by Sir N. Harris
Nicolas (1845); _Life of Nelson_, by Capt. A. T. Mahan (London, 1899).
(D. H.)

COPERNICUS (or KOPPERNIGK), NICOLAUS (1473-1543), Polish astronomer, was
born on the 19th of February 1473, at Thorn in Prussian Poland, where
his father, a native of Cracow, had settled as a wholesale trader. His
mother, Barbara Watzelrode, belonged to a family of high mercantile and
civic standing. After the death of his father in 1483, Nicolaus was
virtually adopted by his uncle Lucas Watzelrode, later (in 1489) bishop
of Ermeland. Placed at the university of Cracow in 1491, he devoted
himself, during three years, to mathematical science under Albert
Brudzewski (1445-1497), and incidentally acquired some skill in
painting. At the age of twenty-three he repaired to Bologna, and there
varied his studies of canon law by attending the astronomical lectures
of Domenico Maria Novara (1454-1504). At Rome, in the Jubilee year 1500,
he himself lectured with applause; but having been nominated in 1497
canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg, he recrossed the Alps in 1501 with
the purpose of obtaining further leave of absence for the completion of
his academic career. Late in the same year, accordingly, he entered the
medical school of Padua, where he remained until 1505, having taken
meanwhile a doctor's degree in canon law at Ferrara on the 31st of May
1503. After his return to his native country he resided at the episcopal
palace of Heilsberg as his uncle's physician until the latter's death on
the 29th of March 1512. He then retired to Frauenburg, and vigorously
attended to his capitular duties. He never took orders, but acted
continually as the representative of the chapter under harassing
conditions, administrative and political; he was besides commissary of
the diocese of Ermeland; his medic