Page:Tycho brahe.djvu/227

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THE LAST YEARS AT HVEEN.
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Oslo in Norway, and James was informed that it was not likely to put to sea again for some months. Vexed at this new disappointment, he quickly made up his mind (not a very usual thing for him to do, but he was probably anxious to have the vexed question of the Orkney and Shetland Isles settled as soon as possible), and having, without communicating his intention to his Council, fitted out some ships, he started for Norway attended by the Chancellor, Sir John Maitland, and a numerous suite. He arrived at Oslo in November, and the marriage was solemnised at Aggershus Castle on the 24th of that month by his own chaplain, David Lyndsay. The timid monarch did not care to face the boisterous North Sea a second time in winter, and remained in Norway for some time, until he accepted the invitation of the Danish Government and set sail for Kronborg, where he arrived with his bride on the 20th January 1590. A month after he went to Copenhagen, where the usual festivities were held in his honour; but James did not neglect the opportunity of enjoying the conversation of learned men, and even went to see the theologian Hemmingsen at Roskilde. It is natural that he should wish to see the spot to which the eyes of all the learned men of Europe were directed, and on the 2oth March he paid a visit to Tycho Brahe at Hveen, arriving at eight o'clock in the morning and remaining till three p.m.[1] King James was particularly pleased to see in the library at Uraniborg the portrait of his former tutor, George Buchanan, which had been presented to Tycho by Peter Young, who had once taught James to spell, and had afterwards several times been sent to Denmark on various missions.[2] The learned king and the astronomer had thus more than one interest in common, and it is easy to imagine the delight the former must have

  1. Meteorological diary: "Rex Schotiæ venit mane H. 8, abiit H. 3."
  2. He was now the king's almoner.