kind was beneath their dignity: they occupied most of their time in pleasure and amusement. They considered themselves the elect, who were born to be served. Although he belonged by birth to this class, Tycho detested the frivolous, aimless lives they led. In a letter in which he expresses his intention of leaving Denmark, he says:
Neither my country nor my friends keep me back; one
who has courage finds a home in every place and lives a
happy life every where. Friends, too, one can find in all
countries. There will always be time enough to return to
the cold North to follow the general example, and, like the
rest, in pride and luxury to play for the rest of one's years
with wine, dogs, and horses (for if these were lacking how
could the nobles be happy?). May God, as I trust He will,
accord me a better lot.
He traveled about in Germany, Austria, and Italy,
and he made great friends with the Landgrave of
Hesse, who was very much interested in mathematics
and astronomy and had a fine observatory of his own.
While Tycho was staying with him at Cassel a serious
fire broke out in the palace. But such was the astronomer's
power of concentration and absorption in his
work that, regardless of the general alarm, he could
not be persuaded to leave his study until he had finished
the particular piece of work with which he was
occupied at the moment.
The fame of the great astronomer was now spreading, and the King of Denmark, Frederick II, who
