Adam Duncan. By H. W. Wilson. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and
Co. 2s. net. )—Doubtless Mr. Wilson is right in putting Duncan in the second rank. He was a great commander, but not of the greatest. It is true that he fell upon evil times. When he was at his best—between the ages of thirty-three and forty-seven— he was not employed. And the British seaman was at his worst, thanks to an incompetent Administration. Still, he had not Nelson's genius. But he had everything short of this ; in fact, he only missed genius by a little. His great victory (Camperdown) was won when he was in his sixty-seventh year. His plans there were not wholly unlike Nelson's grand idea of hurling an over- powering force on one point. But he did not quite realise the idea, though he came near it. Perhaps the most interesting thing in tho volume (which belongs to the series of " Westminster Bio- graphies ") is the account of the mutinies of the year 1.797. Duncan behaved with consummate courage, discretion, and humanity, and largely helped to save England in one of the very worst perils in which she ever stood.
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