Delambre mentions, in his History of Astronomy, that this design was
resumed in 1803 by the Prince Bishop of Constance, and that a monument
has been erected in the Botanical Garden at Ratisbon, near the place of
his interment. It is built in the form of a temple, surmounted by a
sphere; in the centre is placed a bust of Kepler, in Carrara marble.
Delambre does not mention the original of the bust; but says it is not
unlike the figure engraved in the frontispiece of the Rudolphine Tables.
That frontispiece consists of a portico of ten pillars, supporting a
cupola covered with astronomical emblems. Copernicus, Tycho Brahe,
Ptolemy, Hipparchus, and other astronomers, are seen among them. In one
of the compartments of the common pedestal is a plan of the observatory
at Uraniburg; in another, a printing press; in a third is the figure of
a man, meant for Kepler, seated at a table. He is identified by the
titles of his works, which are round him; but the whole is so small as
to convey very little idea of his figure or countenance. The only
portrait known of Kepler was given by him to his assistant Gringallet,
who presented it to Bernegger; and it was placed by the latter in the
library at Strasburg. Hantsch had a copy taken for the purpose of
engraving it, but died before it was completed. A portrait of Kepler is
engraved in the seventh part of Boissard's Bibliotheca Chalcographica.
It is not known whence this was taken, but it may, perhaps, be a copy of
that which was engraved by desire of Bernegger in 1620. The likeness is
said not to have been well preserved. "His heart and genius," says
Kästner, "are faithfully depicted in his writings; and that may console
us, if we cannot entirely trust his portrait." In the preceding pages,
it has been endeavoured to select such passages from his writings as
might throw the greatest light on his character, with a subordinate
reference only to the importance of the subjects treated. In conclusion,
it may be well to support the opinion which has been ventured on the
real nature of his triumphs, and on the danger of attempting to follow
his method in the pursuit of truth, by the judgment pronounced by
Delambre, as well on his failures as on his success. "Considering these
matters in another point of view, it is not impossible to convince
ourselves that Kepler may have been always the same. Ardent, restless,
burning to distinguish himself by his discoveries, he attempted
everything; and having once obtained a glimpse of one, no labour was too
hard for him in following or verifying it. All his attempts had not the
same success, and, in fact, that was impossible. Those which have failed
seem to us only fanciful; those which have been more fortunate appear
sublime. When in search of that which really existed, he has sometimes
found it; when he devoted himself to the pursuit of a chimera, he could
not but fail; but even there he unfolded the same qualities, and that
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