Camperdown. 69 



When Admiral Duncan came to London, he "was 

 made a Baron, and afterwards Earl of Camperdown ; 

 and, by an unanimous vote of the House of Com- 

 mons, he received a pension or a sum of money, I 

 forget which ; my father was knighted, and made 

 Colonel of Marines. Earl Spencer was First Lord 

 of the Admiralty at the time, and Lady Spencer 

 said to my father, " You ask for the promotion of 

 your officers, but you never have asked a reward 

 for yourself/' He replied, " I leave that to my 

 country." But his country did nothing for him ; 

 and at his death my mother had nothing to live 

 upon but the usual pension of an Admiral's widow, 

 of seventy-five pounds a-year. Our friends, espe- 

 cially Eobert Ferguson, junior, of Eaith, made 

 various attempts to obtain an addition to it; but 

 it was too late : Camperdown was forgotten. 



I remember one morning going to Lord Camper- 

 down's house in Edinburgh with my mother, to see 

 a very large painting, representing the quarter-deck 

 of the " Venerable," Admiral Duncan, as large as 

 life, standing upright, and the Dutch Admiral, De 

 Winter, presenting his sword to my father. Another 

 representation of the same scene may be seen 

 among the numerous pictures of naval battles which 

 decorate the walls of the great hall at Greenwich 

 Hospital. Many years afterwards I was surprised to 



