Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/125

 of Tintadgel’ (pp. 330–7) and ‘The Isle of Poplars,’ were written by Polwhele. 6. ‘A Respectful Tribute to Thomas Curtis, who died at Bath 4 April 1784.’ Thirty-six copies were struck off for members of the Bath Philosophical Society. It was also inserted in the ‘Transactions’ of the Agricultural Society, vol. iii. pp. xvii–xxiv.

Three octavo volumes of papers contributed to the Agricultural Society were published under his editorship, and he wrote a few of the articles. His papers ‘On the Origin and Progress of Agriculture’ and ‘The Natural History of the Cock-chafer’ were reprinted in the ‘Georgical Essays’ of [q. v.], and that on the cockchafer also appeared in the ‘Annual Register’ for 1784–5, pp. 38–9. The second edition of ‘Caspipina's Letters,’ by the Rev. Jacob Duché, was edited by him in 1777, and he appended to it a brief account of William Penn. From 1782 to 1786 Rack was actively engaged in making a topographical survey of Somerset, and the labour was all but completed by him before his death. The work was published by the Rev. John Collinson in 1791 in three volumes.

Rack contributed to the ‘Monthly Ledger’ and the ‘Monthly Miscellany’ under the signature of Eusebius, and he also wrote for the ‘Farmer's Magazine’ and the ‘Bath Chronicle.’ Philip Thicknesse accused him of being the author of ‘A Letter addressed to Philip Thickskull, esq.,’ and retorted in ‘A Letter from Philip Thickskull, Esq., to Edmund Rack,’ 1780 (cf. Edmund—an Eclogue, 1780). He wrote the second of the printed odes presented to Mrs. Macaulay on her birthday in 1777, and in the fourth volume of ‘Poetical Amusements,’ at Lady Miller's villa, there appeared three poems from his pen.



RACKETT, THOMAS (1757–1841), antiquary, born in 1757, was son of Thomas Rackett of Wandsworth, Surrey. At the age of fourteen he recited to Garrick the latter's ode for the Shakespearean jubilee so admirably that Garrick presented him ‘with a gilt copy of it.’ Next year (1771) Garrick gave him a folio copy of Shakespeare with a laudatory inscription. Forrest and Paul Sandby taught Rackett drawing. John Hunter directed his attention as a boy to the study of natural history, and gave him, what Rackett much valued, a piece of caoutchouc, then little known in England. He matriculated from University College, Oxford, on 16 Nov. 1773, and graduated B.A. in 1777 and M.A. in 1780. At the same time he became rector of Spetisbury with Charlton-Marshall, Dorset, and held the living for more than sixty years.

Rackett, although he devoted himself to his parish, was interested in every branch of science, and was a good musician. But his leisure was mainly occupied in antiquarian researches, and he spent much time in scientific study in London. He came to know Gough, King, Sir R. C. Hoare, and Canon Bowles. He helped Hutchins in the second edition of his ‘History of Dorset,’ and rambled on his pony over the whole of that county exploring its antiquities. Late in life he collected and took casts of ancient seals and coins. In 1794 and 1796 he accompanied Hatchett and Dr. Maton in a tour through the western counties and collected minerals. When an octogenarian he enthusiastically studied conchology, and, in conjunction with [q. v.] (to whom he offered a home at Spetisbury), pursued astronomy. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Linnean Society. He died at Spetisbury on 29 Nov. 1841. Rackett married, in 1781, Dorothea, daughter of James Tattersall, rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and of Streatham. All his children predeceased him except Dorothea, wife of S. Solly of Heathside, near Poole, Dorset.

Rackett wrote:
 * 1) ‘A Description of Otterden Place and Church and of the Archiepiscopal Palace at Charing in the county of Kent; accompanied by Genealogical Memoirs of the Family of Wheler and Anecdotes of some of the early Experiments in Electricity,’ London, 1832. Rackett drew the frontispiece of Otterden Place and also the view of the palace. This book, written to please Mrs. Wheler, his niece, first appeared as an essay in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1832.
 * 2) ‘An Historical Account of Testaceological Writers,’ in conjunction with W. G. Maton, M.D. (published in ‘Transactions of the Linnean Society’); a bound copy, now in the British Museum, was presented in 1804 to Sir J. Banks ‘with the respectful compliments of the authors.’



RADCLIFFE. [See also and .]

RADCLIFFE, ALEXANDER (fl. 1680), verse-writer, the son and heir of Alexander Radcliffe of Hampstead, Middlesex, was ad-