him that he would be received according
to his great merits, and that nothing should be wanting to promote his
scientific studies. Leaving his wife and daughters at Wandesberg, and
taking with him his sons and his pupils, Tycho went to Wittemberg; but
having learned that the plague had broken out at Prague, and that the
Emperor had gone to Pilsen, he deferred for a while his journey into
Bohemia.

Early in the spring of 1599, when the pestilence had ceased at Prague,
and the Emperor had returned to his capital, Tycho set out for Bohemia.
On his arrival at Prague, he found a splendid house ready for his
reception, and a kind message from the Emperor, prohibiting him from
paying his respects to him till he had recovered from the fatigues of
his journey. On his presentation to Rudolph, the generous Emperor
received him with the most distinguished kindness. He announced to him
that he was to receive an annual pension of 3000 crowns; that an estate
would as soon as possible be settled upon him and his family and their
successors; that a town house would be provided for him; and that he
might have his choice of various castles and houses in the country as
the site of his observatory and laboratory. The Emperor had also taken
care to provide every thing that was necessary for Tycho's immediate
wants; and so overwhelmed was he with such unexpected kindness, that he
remarked that, as he could not find words to express his gratitude, the
whole heavens would speak for him, and posterity should know what a
refuge his great and good Sovereign had been to the Queen of the Arts.

Among the numerous friends whom Tycho found at Prague, were his
correspondents Coroducius and Hagecius, and his benefactor Barrovitius,
the Emperor's secretary. He was congratulated by them all on his
distinguished reception at court, and was regarded as the AEneas of
science, who had been driven from his peaceful home, and who had carried
with him to the Latium of Germany his wife, his children, and his
household gods. If external circumstances could remove the sorrows of
the past, Tycho must now have been supremely happy. In his spacious
mansion, which had belonged to his friend Curtius, he found a position
for one of his best instruments, and having covered with poetical
inscriptions the four sides of the pedestal on which it stood, in honour
of his benefactors, as well as of former astronomers, he resumed with
diligence his examination of the stars.