Part 110

To conclude,—if Dr. Rittenhouse was not the greatest man, of the age, his character has fewer blemishes in it; and, if his talents were not of that kind which are usually considered the most brilliant, they were—like those of WASHINGTON—of the most solid and useful order.

Some particulars concerning the Residence, the Tomb, &c. of Copernicus: communicated to the late Dr. Rittenhouse, Pres. A. P. S. by the Earl of Buchan.

“In the year 1777,” says his Lordship, “my learned friend John Bernouilli, of Berlin, on one of his tours having happened to meet with the Bishop of Warmia, in the Abbey of Oliva, near Dantzic, was informed by that prelate, that he had the pleasure to discover, in the Cathedral of Frauenburg, the Tomb of Copernicus, so long fruitlessly sought for.

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Footnote A53:

An uncle of Copernicus was Bishop of Warmia, (in Ermeland, a little province of Poland,) and gave him a canonry in his cathedral of Frawenberg, a city in ducal Prussia, situated on the Frische Haff, at the mouth of the Vistula: it was there he began to devote himself to astronomy, at the age of twenty-eight years. His great work, De Revolutionibus Orbium Cœlestium, was completed about the year 1530: but his apprehensions of meeting with persecution from the bigotted ignorance of the age, in consequence of the system he therein promulgated, deterred him from publishing it until thirteen years after that period; and it is supposed that the agitation of his mind, occasioned by its appearance in the world, produced the sudden effusion of blood, which terminated his life on the 24th day of May, in the year 1543. W. B.

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“In the year 1778, Mr. Bernouilli having occasion to pass through Frauenburg, on his road to St. Petersburg, did not fail to visit the Cathedral, and explore the Monument of Copernicus. Acquainted with no one in the place, he was yet lucky enough to meet with a Canon, in the street, whose countenance invited him to accost him on this subject, and who proved very attentive to his researches. He informed him, that as for the Ashes of Copernicus, they were mingled in the charnel-house with the bones of the fraternity of the Canons; but that, for the Tombstone of the Philosopher, it was no more than a tablet of marble, simple, as the mode was of his days, and had no other inscription than these words—NIC. COPERNICUS, THOR:—-That this tablet had remained hidden for some time, in rubbish; and when recovered, was placed in the chapter-house, till a more suitable place should be destined for it. Mr. Bernouilli expresses his regret to me, that he had not urged the Canon to indulge him with a sight of this Stone; and to look for a further inscription, to support the assertion of Gassendi, who mentions (page 325), That the Bishop Martin Cromer, an eminent Polish historian, caused a mural marble monument to be inscribed and erected to the memory of Copernicus, with the following inscription:

D. O. M. R. D. NICOLAO COPERNICO, Torunensi, Artium et Medicinæ Doctori, Canonico Warmiensi, Præsenti Astrologo, et Ejus Disciplinæ Instauratori; MARTINUS CROMERUS, Episcopus Warmiensis, Honoris, et ad Posteritatem Memoriæ, Causâ, posuit; M. D. L. X. X. X. I.

“Gassendi adds, that this Monument was not erected until thirty-six years after the death of Copernicus, which does not agree with this date of 1581.

“The good Canon informed Bernouilli, that he was lodged in the apartment of Copernicus, of which he was very proud; and invited the Prussian Philosopher to visit him in that place, which he accordingly did; and was shewn by the Canon another place, above the Dormitories, which had been used by Copernicus as his study and observatory, in which the Canon had a portrait of that eminent man, concerning the original of which he would not say. This little Observatory had an extensive view; but when Copernicus had occasion for one more extensive, he was wont to observe on the gallery of the steeple, which communicates with this place.

“Charmed with these classic footsteps, Bernouilli forgot to look at the Monument on the chapter-house, above mentioned. In a repository adjoining to the Cathedral, the Canon shewed Bernouilli the remains of a hydraulic machine said to have been invented and used by Copernicus. The construction seemed interesting, but in great disrepair; and Bernouilli had not leisure to examine it particularly. The use of the machine was to force and convey water into the most elevated apartments of the house of the Canons, who are now under the necessity of having it fetched from a distance, from the lower Town.”

“I remember to have seen (says Bernouilli), in some old German Journal, that the Library of the ancient town of Konigsberg contained some books, chiefly mathematical, which were part of the Library of Copernicus; and also his Portrait, which had been purchased at Thorn, where the remains of his family still possessed the house in which he was born, as late as the year 1720. In P. Freher’s Theatrum Virorum eruditorum, there is a Chronostick on the year of Copernicus’s death, 1543. p. 1447.

eX hoC eXCessIt trIstI CopernICVs eVo, IngenIo astronVM et CognItIone potens.

“In the above mentioned book, p. 1442, there is a neat little Print of Copernicus. In Hartknoch’s Alter und newes Preusen, here is a print of Copernicus, from a picture on wood which hangs in what they call his Cenotaph, at Thorn; and which represents him kneeling, in his canonicals, before a Crucifix;—and below this portrait are these sapphic verses:

Non parem Pauli gratiam requiro, Veniam Petri neque posco; sed quam In Crucis ligno dederas sationi, Sedulus oro.

(a little lower)

Nicolao Copernico, Thoruniensi, absolutæ subtilitatis mathematico, ne tanti viri apud exteros celeb. in sua patria periret memoria, hoc monumentum positum.

Mort. Varmiæ, in suo Canonicatu, Anno 1543— die 4 + ætatis LXXIII.

(lastly, lowest.)

Nicolaus Copernicus, Thoruniensis, Mathematicus celeberrimus.

“This Monument of Copernicus was erected by Melchior Pyrnesius, M. D., who died in 1589.

“On the same altar-piece, or picture, is represented the portrait of John D’Albert, with the following inscription.

Illustris Princeps Dn. Joh. Albertus, Polo. Rex, apoplexiâ hic Thoru. mortuus, Anno 1501, die 17 Maii, ætat. 41; cujus viscera hic sepulta, Corpore Craco translato; Reg. Ann. VIII.

“Upon the whole,” concludes Lord Buchan, “it appears the likeness I send, of Copernicus, is most to be depended on; and, as such, I flatter myself it will be an Heir-loom to infant America! Concerning Napier, it is needless for me to enlarge; the learned Dr. Minto having enabled me to do justice to his memory.”

Although the following particulars respecting Dr. Rittenhouse were not communicated by the writer, Professor Barton, until it was too late to give them a place in the body of the work, the Author nevertheless is glad to have an opportunity of presenting to the public, even at the close of his book, the interesting circumstances this communication contains.

As Optics were one of his favourite studies, so he at one time contemplated a course of public, and I think popular, lectures on this beautiful and important branch of physics. On this subject he mentioned to me his intention in the winter of 1785-1786. The enthusiasm, indeed, with which he developed his design, and I may add the warmth of zeal with which his manner at the time inspired me, I can never forget. And, indeed, I cannot but regret, that our excellent friend never made his appearance in publick, as a LECTURER. As such, he would, unquestionably, have greatly advanced the love and the knowledge of natural philosophy in the United-States. He may, perhaps, have wanted some of the qualifications of a popular teacher. He would not have aspired to finished eloquence of style: to the eloquence of gesture and of manner, he was still more a stranger. But there is an eloquence of physiognomy, which Mr. Rittenhouse most eminently possessed. The modesty and amenity of his manner would have effected much, whether his audience had been a class of philosophers, or an assembly of ladies. Of his own discoveries, and opinions, and theories, he would have always spoken with that sweet and modest reserve, for which he was ever distinguished. He would have dwelt with the most generous and ample enthusiasm upon the great discoveries of Newton; and if, at any time, he could have forgotten that impartial conduct, which it is the duty of the historian of a science to observe, it would have been when he might have had occasion to defend the theories of that great man, against the objections of succeeding and minor philosophers.

In Physics, Newton was his favourite author. Of HIM he ever spoke with a species of respect bordering upon veneration. He considered him as one of those few great leaders in science whose discoveries and services can never be forgotten: whose fame, instead of diminishing, is destined to be augmented, with the progress of time. I had many opportunities of being witness to the exalted opinion which he entertained of the immortal British philosopher. He read Dr. Bancroft’s objections to some parts of Sir Isaac’s theory of colours, with a firm conviction, that the Newtonian principles were still unshaken: and I well remember, that he once referred me to a paper which he had published, in one of our magazines, in answer to some objections which the late Dr. Witherspoon had urged against some of the theories of Newton.