_Duncan Campbell_ (Vol. i., p. 186.).--There seems to be no doubt that
Duncan Campbell, whose life was written by Defoe, was a real person. See
_Tatler_, vol. i. p. 156. edit. 1786, 8vo.; _Spectator_, No. 560.; Wilson's
_Life of Defoe_, vol. iii. p. 476. His house was "in Buckingham Court, over
against Old Man's Coffee House, at Charing {249} Cross," and at another
period of his life in Monmouth Court. He is reported to have amassed a
large fortune from practising upon the credulity of the public, and was the
grand answerer of "Queries" in his day. Defoe's entertaining pieces
relating to him are evidently novels founded upon fact.