RAEBURN RAGOTSKI. 



787 



painter, was born at Stockbridge, one of the suburbs 

 of Edinburgh, on the 4th March, 1750'. At the age 

 of fifteen he was bound apprentice to a goldsmith 

 in Edinburgh, and here he first amused himself with 

 drawing miniatures, which were executed in such a 

 superior manner as to excite the attention of his 

 friends, and latterly, to come into great general de- 

 mand. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he 

 became professionally a portrait painter ; and with 

 the view of improving in his art, lie repaired to Lon- 

 don, and introduced himself and his works to the 

 notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds. That artist recom- 

 mended a residence in Italy, in obedience to which 

 advice Mr Raeburn set out for Rome, with intro- 

 ductory letters from Sir Joshua, to the most eminent 

 men of science there. After spending two years in 

 Italy, diligently engaged in studying those great 

 works of art with which that country abounds, he 

 returned in 1787, and established himself in Edin- 

 burgh. Here he soon rose to the head of his pro- 

 fession in Scotland, an eminence which no artist 

 presumed to dispute with him during the remainder 

 of his life. In 1795, he built a large house in York 

 Place, the upper part of which he lighted from the 

 roof, and fitted up as an extensive gallery, while 

 the rest of the house was laid out in convenient 

 painting rooms. His dwelling-house was at St. 

 Bernard's, near Stockbridge, on the banks of the 

 Water of Leith. The future history of Mr Rae- 

 burn's life is limited to that of the paintings which 

 he executed. He painted portraits of most of the 

 celebrated individuals by whom Scotland has been 

 illustrated during the last forty years. His like- 

 nesses are universally regarded as most striking 

 ones, while they are executed with a freedom, vi- 

 gour, and dignity of style peculiarly his own. His 

 equestrian figures, in particular, obtained for him a 

 high degree of reputation. His principal portraits 

 of this kind are those of his own son upon a pony, 

 of Sir David Baird, of the Duke of Hamilton, of 

 the Earl of Hopeton, and of Lord Kintore's game- 

 keeper. Among his full length portraits may be 

 enumerated those of Sir Walter Scott, Mr Keith of 

 Ravelstone, Mr Dugald Stewart, Professor Play- 

 fair, Francis Horner, M.P., Lord Frederick Camp- 

 bell, Glengarry, Macnab, Macdonaldof St. Martin's, 

 Sir John Hay, Lord Glenlee, Lord Douglas, Dr 

 Hope, Sir John Douglas, &c. Among his pictures 

 of a smaller size which have been admired are those 

 of Lady Cuming Gordon, Mr and Mrs Skene of 

 Rubislaw, Mrs Hay, Mr Thomas Thomson, Mr 

 John Murray, the celebrated James Watt, and Dr 

 Marcet. The most interesting, however, of his 

 later works are a series of half-length portraits of 

 his literary and scientific friends, which he painted 

 solely for his own private gratification. Among these 

 are the portraits of Sir Walter Scott, Lord Jeffrey, 

 Francis Horner, Rev. Archibald Alison, Sir David 

 Brewster, Rev. Andrew Thomson, Mr John Rennie, 

 Lord Cockburn, Rev. J. Thomson, and Mr H. W. 

 Williams. In 1822, when King George IV. visited 

 Scotland, the dignity of knighthood was, without 

 any solicitation, conferred on Mr Raeburn, and he 

 afterwards received the appointment of portrait 

 painter to his Majesty for Scotland. He did not 

 survive those honours long, as he died, after a short 

 illness, on the 8th July, 1823. At a meeting of the 

 Royal Academy of London, on the 16th of that 

 month, Sir Thomas Lawrence lamented the melan- 

 choly task which had devolved upon him, of an- 

 nouncing officially to his colleagues, the death of 

 one of their most distinguished associates. He ex- 

 pressed his high admiration for the talents of the 

 deceased, and his unfeigned respect for the high 

 feeling and gentlemanlike conduct which liad con- 



ferred a dignity on himself, and on the art which he 

 professed. His loss, Sir Thomas said, had left 21 

 blank in the Royal Academy, as well as in his owu 

 country, which could not be filled up. 



RAFELLO. See Raphael. 



RAFFLE; a game of chance, in which several 

 persons deposit each part of the value of a thing 

 for the chance of gaining it. The winner takes 

 the whole. 



RAFFLES, SIR THOMAS STAMFORD, the sou 

 of a captain in the West India trade, was born at 

 sea, off Jamaica, in 1781. His father placed him 

 for education at Hammersmith, where he remained 

 till he was appointed to a clerkship in the India 

 house. In 1805, the secretary to the board 

 procured him the situation of assistant-secretary 

 to the new government of the Prince of Wales's 

 island, and he was soon after appointed Malay 

 translator to the government. In 1810, his re- 

 putation procured him the appointment of agent 

 of the governor-general with the Malay states ; am) 

 the following year, on the reduction of Java, he was 

 nominated lieutenant-governor of the island. In 

 this capacity he continued till 1816, when he re- 

 turned to England, with an extensive collection <>f 

 the productions, costume, &c. of the Eastern archi- 

 pelago. The year following appeared his History 

 of Java, (new edition 1830.) In 1817 he was no- 

 minated to the residency of Bencoolen, in Sumatra, 

 with the honour of knighthood, and the lieutenant- 

 governorship of Fort Marlborough. Here he reme- 

 died many disgraceful abuses. In 1823, he laid the 

 foundation of a literary institution, consisting of a 

 college for the encouragement of Anglo-Chinese 

 literature. In the .following year he embarked for 

 Europe ; but, a fire breaking out in the ship, the 

 vessel was destroyed at sea, the crew and passen- 

 gers saving their lives with difficulty in the boats, 

 and relanding in a state of utter destitution, about 

 fifteen miles from Bencoolen, after passing anight 

 on the ocean. He embarked again for London in 

 the same year, and died in 1826. In 1830 appear- 

 ed a Memoir of his Life by his Widow, (4to.) 



RAFFLESIA. This gigantic flower was disco- 

 vered not many years since in the interior of Suma- 

 tra. It is very rare there, and is parasitical, grow- 

 ing on the cissus angustifolius. The whole plant 

 seems to consist of little else beyond the fiower and 

 root. It is dioecius and the female flowers are un- 

 known. The calyx, or corolla, consists of a ventri- 

 cose tube crowned with a ring, and divided at the 

 summit into five equal lobes. The stamens are 

 very numerous. The stem,which hardly rises above 

 the root, is fleshy, and covered with very large ob- 

 tuse, imbricated bracts. The diameter of the flower 

 is three feet, and some parts of the calyx or corolla 

 are three-fourths of an inch in thickness. No other 

 flower in the vegetable world at all approaches 

 these dimensions. The R. horsfieldii is a se- 

 cond species of the genus, with a much smaller 

 flower. 



RAFT ; a sort of float, formed by a body of 

 planks or pieces of timber fastened together side by 

 side, so as to be. conveyed down rivers, across har- 

 bours, &c., more cominodiously than if they were 

 separated. 



RAFTERS, in building, are pieces of tiriber, 

 which , standing by pairs on the raising piece, meet 

 in tin angle at the top, and form the roof of a 

 building. 



RAGOTSKI, FRANCIS, second of the name, prince 

 of Transylvania, was born in 1676. On the death 

 of his father he was carefully watched by the house 

 of Austria ; but he secretly entered into a nepocia- 

 tion with Louis XIV., which beinj; betrayed, be 

 3 u2 



