The following narrative, written over eighty years ago, and now at last given to the world in 1906, is remarkable in many respects.

It is remarkable for its subject, for its style, and for its literary history.

The subject—a deathbed scene—might seem at first sight to be a trite and common one. The mise-en-scÈne—the Field of Waterloo—alone however redeems it from such a charge; and the principal actors play their part in no common-place or unrelieved tragedy. "Certainly," as Bacon says, "Vertue is like pretious Odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: For Prosperity doth best discover Vice; But Adversity doth best discover Vertue."

As to the style, it will be sufficient to quote the authority of Dickens for the statement that no one but Defoe could have told the story in fiction.

Its literary history is even more remarkable than either its style or its subject.

It is no exaggeration to say of the narrative—as Bacon said of the Latin volume of his Essays—that it "may last as long as Bookes last." And yet it has remained in manuscript for more than eighty years. This is probably unique in the history of literature since the Invention of Printing.

As regards the hero of the narrative, the Duke of Wellington once said that he "was an excellent officer, and would have risen to great distinction had he lived."[1]

Captain Arthur Gore, who afterwards became Lieutenant-General Gore, alludes to him in the following terms: "This incomparable officer was deservedly esteemed by the Duke of Wellington, who honoured him with his particular confidence and regard."[2]

His ancestors, for several generations, had been men of great distinction, and he undoubtedly inherited their great qualities in a very high degree.

The De Lancey family is one of Huguenot origin, the founder of the family,[3] Etienne De Lancey, having fled from France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

The following extracts treating of the family history are taken from Appleton's CyclopÆdia of American Biography.

The author of the articles, Edward Floyd De Lancey,[4] was born in 1821, and died at Ossining, N.Y., on the 7th April 1905. At one time he held the position of President of the New York Genealogical Society, and has done a great deal of work in the field of historical research.

"Etienne De Lancey (great-grandfather of Sir William De Lancey), was born in Caen, France, 24th October 1663; and died in the city of New York, 18th November 1741. Having been compelled, as a Protestant, to leave France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (18th October 1685), he escaped into Holland. Deciding to become a British subject and to emigrate to America, he crossed to England and took the oath of allegiance to James II. He landed in New York, 7th June 1686. His mother had given him, on his departure from Caen, a portion of the family jewels. He sold them for £300, became a merchant, and amassed a fortune of £100,000. He married Anne, second daughter of Stephanus van Cortlandt, 23rd January 1700. He took a prominent part in public affairs, representing the fourth ward of New York as alderman in 1691-93, and was a member of Assembly for twenty-four years. While sitting in the latter body he gave his salary, during one session, to purchase the first town-clock erected in New York; and with the aid of his partner imported and presented to the city the first fire-engine that had been brought into the province. The De Lancey house, built by Etienne in 1700 upon a piece of land given to him by his father-in-law, is now the oldest building in the city of New York."[5] Mr De Lancey was buried in the family vault in Trinity Church, New York.

Three of his sons, James, Peter, and Oliver, left descendants. Descendants of the eldest son, James, amongst whom were included Edward Floyd De Lancey, the historian of the family, are resident in the city of New York, and also at Ossining, N.Y. Descendants of the second son, Peter, are now living in the county of Annapolis, Nova Scotia.[6]

The third son, Oliver, grandfather of the hero of the present narrative, went to England after the Revolutionary War. No direct descendants of his in the male line would appear to be now living.

The following is the account of his life as given in Appleton's CyclopÆdia:—

"Oliver, the youngest son of Etienne, was born in New York City, 16th September 1708; and died in Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 27th November 1785. He was originally a merchant, being a member of the firm founded by his father. He early took an active part in public affairs, and was noted for his decision of character and personal popularity. He represented the city of New York in the Assembly in 1756-60, and served as alderman of the out-ward from 1754 till 1757. He was active in military affairs during the entire French War, and, in 1755, obtained leave from Connecticut to raise men there for service in New York, for which he received the thanks of the Assembly of his own province. In March 1758 he was appointed to the command of the forces then being collected for the expedition against Crown Point, and succeeded in raising the entire New York City regiment within ten days. He was placed at the head of the New York contingent, under General Abercrombie (about 5000 strong), as Colonel-in-Chief. In the attack on Fort Ticonderoga, 8th July 1758, he supported Lord Howe, and was near that officer when he fell mortally wounded. In November of the same year the Assembly of New York again voted him its thanks 'for his great service, and singular care of the troops of the colony while under his command.' In 1760 he was appointed a member of the Provincial Council, retaining his seat until 1776. In 1763 he was made Receiver-General, and in 1773 Colonel-in-Chief of the Southern military district of the province. 'In June 1776,' says the historian Jones, 'he joined General Howe on Staten Island; and, had that officer profited by his honest advice, the American War, I will be bold to say, would have ended in a very different manner to what it did.' In September of that year he raised three regiments of Loyalists, largely at his own expense, of 500 men each, known as 'De Lancey's battalions.' Of these regiments a brigade was formed, and Colonel De Lancey was commissioned Brigadier-General in the Loyalist service. He was assigned to the command of Long Island, where he remained during the war. One of his battalions served in the South with great credit, under his son-in-law, Colonel John Harris Cruger, doing effective service in the defence of Fort Ninety-six against General Greene. In November 1777, his country-seat at Bloomingdale, on the Hudson, was robbed and burned at night by a party of Americans from the water-guard at Tarrytown, his wife and daughters being driven from the house in their night-dresses and compelled to spend the night in the fields, now the Central Park. Having been attainted, and his immense estates in New York and New Jersey confiscated, General De Lancey retired to England, where he resided in Beverley until his death. Of his four daughters, Susanna married Sir William Draper, while Charlotte became the wife of Sir David Dundas, K.C.B., who succeeded the Duke of York as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army."[7]

In the Life of Van Schaak, his decease is mentioned thus by a fellow-Loyalist: "Our old friend has at last taken his departure from Beverley, which he said should hold his bones; he went off without pain or struggle, his body wasted to a skeleton, his mind the same. The family, most of them, collected in town (London). There will scarcely be a village in England without some American dust in it, I believe, by the time we are all at rest."[8]

Stephen, the eldest son of Brigadier-General Oliver De Lancey, and father of Sir William De Lancey, was born in New York City about 1740; and died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 1798. He was educated in England, and practised law in New York before the Revolutionary War, during which he served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the "De Lancey's" second battalion. After the war he was appointed Chief Justice of the Bahama Islands, and subsequently was made Governor of Tobago and its dependencies. His health becoming impaired while he held the latter office, he sailed for England to rejoin his family. But he grew rapidly worse on the voyage, and, at his own request, was transferred to an American vessel bound for Portsmouth, N.H., where he died, and was buried a few days after his arrival.[9]

Sir William De Lancey, soldier, only son of the preceding, was born in New York about 1781,[10] and died in June 1815, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Waterloo. He was educated in England, and early entered the British army. He served with great distinction under Wellington in Spain, and was several times honourably mentioned in his despatches.[11]

Gold Cross of Sir William De Lancey

The Gold Cross of Sir William De Lancey.
Received after serving in the Peninsular War.
In the possession of Major J.A. Hay.

At the close of the war he was made a Knight of the Bath. When Napoleon landed from Elba, Wellington, in forming his staff, insisted on having De Lancey appointed as his Quartermaster-General. The officer really entitled to the promotion was Sir William's brother-in-law, Sir Hudson Lowe;[12] but as Wellington had conceived a dislike for him, he refused to accept that officer in that capacity. The military authorities, however, insisted on his appointment, and it was only when Wellington made the promotion of De Lancey a sine qu non of his acceptance of the supreme command that the former yielded.[13] Six weeks before the battle of Waterloo, Sir William married the daughter of Sir James Hall[14] of Dunglass, the Scottish scientist. His bride accompanied him on the Continent. On the second day of the battle[15] Sir William was knocked from his horse by a spent cannon-ball, and it was at first supposed that he had been instantly killed. Thirty-six hours afterwards he was discovered, still alive and in his senses, but incapable of motion, although without any visible wound. Notwithstanding the skill of the surgeons, and the tender care of his wife, he succumbed to his injuries nine days after the battle.[16]

There are several references to De Lancey's death in the "Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus S. Frazer, K.C.B., commanding the R.H.A. in the army under the Duke of Wellington, written during the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns," edited by Major-General Sir Edward Sabine, R.A. On the 29th June Sir Augustus writes to Lady Frazer from Mons: "I regret to state that poor De Lancey is dead; so Hume, the Duke's surgeon, told me. He had opened the body; eight ribs were forced from the spine, one totally broke to pieces, and part of it in the lungs. Poor De Lancey! He is our greatest loss; a noble fellow and an admirable officer," p. 582.

In connection with the foregoing, it will be interesting to compare the account of De Lancey's wound given in the Dictionary of National Biography:—

The following is the extract from Wellington's official despatch of the 19th June, referring to De Lancey:—

At the end of the despatch there is a P.S. announcing the death of Major-General Sir William Ponsonby, followed by a second P.S. couched in the following terms: "I have not yet got the returns of killed and wounded, but I enclose a list of officers killed and wounded on the two days, as far as the same can be made out without the returns; and I am very happy to add that Colonel De Lancey is not dead, and that strong hopes of his recovery are entertained."

That the Duke felt keenly his severe losses in killed and wounded, especially amongst the members of his Staff, is shown by the following reminiscence of General Alava,[19] as told by him, two years after the battle, to Sir Harry Smith and his wife—the lady now immortalised by the name Ladysmith, emblazoned on the colours or accoutrements of thirty-five British regiments.

On the evening of the battle, "the Duke got back to his quarters at Waterloo about nine or ten at night. The table was laid for the usual number, while none appeared of the many of his Staff but Alava and Fremantle. The Duke said very little, ate hastily and heartily, but every time the door opened he gave a searching look, evidently in the hope of some of his valuable Staff approaching. When he had finished eating, he held up both hands in an imploring attitude and said, 'The hand of Almighty God has been upon me this day,' jumped up, went to his couch, and was asleep in a moment."[20]

The following is from General Alava's official report of the action: "Of those who were by the side of the Duke of Wellington, only he and myself remained untouched in our persons and horses. The rest were all either killed, wounded, or lost one or more horses. The Duke was unable to refrain from tears on witnessing the death of so many brave and honourable men, and the loss of so many friends and faithful companions."[21]

The next morning, the Duke wrote the following note to Lady Frances W. Webster, dated

Captain Gronow—a subaltern of the 1st Guards at Waterloo—gives us the following glimpse of the Duke and his Staff, on the morning of the 18th, before the opening of the battle:—

Colonel Basil Jackson, who in 1815 was a lieutenant in the Royal Staff Corps, attached to the Quartermaster-General's department (see Dalton's Waterloo Roll Call, p. 38), gives the following interesting reminiscences of De Lancey on the 17th, at Quatre Bras, and during the retreat to Waterloo on the same day: "Some few changes were made in the disposition of the troops after the Duke of Wellington arrived on the ground, soon after daylight; arms were then piled, and the men, still wearied with their exertions of marching and fighting on the preceding day, lay down to snatch a little more rest. The Duke, too, after riding about and satisfying himself that all was as it should be, dismounted and stretched himself on the ground, very near the point where the road from Brussels to Charleroi crossed that leading from Nivelles to Namur, forming thereby the Quatre Bras....

"I remained for some time at a short distance from the great man, who occasionally addressed a few words to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Sir E. Barnes, De Lancey, and others of his principal officers. He was then awaiting the return of Sir Alexander Gordon, who had gone off by the Namur road, some time between 6 and 7 o'clock, escorted by a squadron of the 10th Hussars. I had seen this detachment start at a round trot, but of course knew not the object of despatching it; which, as we learned afterwards, was to gain intelligence of BlÜcher's operations, whose defeat at Ligny we, that is, the army generally, were ignorant of, though the Duke was aware of it.

"I availed myself of this period of quietness to go and examine particularly the ground which had been so hardly contested the day before....

"Returning to the place where I had left the Duke when I set out on my ramble round the outposts, I found him still on the same spot; where he remained till Gordon and his escort came in with jaded horses, soon after 10 o'clock. On hearing his report, the Duke said a few words to De Lancey, who, observing me near him, directed me to go to Sir Thomas Picton, and tell him the orders were to make immediate preparation for falling back upon Waterloo....

"Just as the retreat commenced (about noon), I was ordered off to Mont St Jean, where I was told I should meet the Quartermaster-General; accordingly I made for Genappe, and as the high road was by that time filled with troops, being, moreover, careless of the farmer's interest, I took a short cut through the corn-fields, in such a direction as enabled me to strike into that village about its centre. There I found sad confusion prevailing; country waggons with stores, ammunition tumbrils, provision waggons, and wounded men, choked up the street, so that it was impossible for any one to pass. Aware of the great importance of freeing the passage at a time when the retiring troops might be pressed by the enemy, I at once set to work to remedy the disorder that prevailed. Let the reader picture to himself Police Constable 61 C posted at the pastry-cook's corner where Gracechurch Street enters Cheapside, at a moment when those passages, together with Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Streets are blocked up by 'buses, drays, waggons, carts, advertising locomotives, private carriages, and dodging cabs, when that unhappy functionary is vainly striving to restore order and clear the ways, and he will have some idea of the difficulty I experienced in executing my self-imposed task. Happily, I was acquainted with some pithy expressions in two or three languages, which were familiar to the ears of those I had to deal with; and these, together with the flat of my sword, proved very efficacious in the end. While in the thick of this scene of tumult and confusion, I felt some one clap me on the shoulder, and on looking round saw Sir W. De Lancey. 'You are very well employed here,' said he; 'remain, and keep the way clear for the troops; I shall not want you at Waterloo.' Encouraged by my chief's commendation I redoubled my efforts, and had soon the satisfaction of seeing the defile free."[25]

"A week after the battle"—to quote again from the article by H. Manners Chichester in the Dictionary of National Biography—"De Lancey succumbed to his injuries, in a peasant's cottage in the village of Waterloo, where he was tenderly nursed by his young wife, who had joined him in Brussels a few days before the battle. According to another account, De Lancey was laid down at his own request when being conveyed to the rear, and so was left out untended all night and part of the next day. Rogers, in a note, states that he was killed by 'the wind of the shot,' his skin not being broken; and also that Lady De Lancey left a manuscript account of his last days."

Lady de Lancey

Lady de Lancey
From a miniature after J.D. Engleheart
Emery Walker Ph.Sc.

This manuscript account was written in the first instance by Lady De Lancey for the information of her brother, Captain Basil Hall, R.N. The original manuscript has been lost sight of. An early copy, which was made by Mrs Basil Hall, is now in the possession of their grand-daughter, Lady Parsons. Copies would appear to have been made by members of the family at various times; but the existence of the narrative was apparently not known to Edward Floyd De Lancey, the historian of the family in Appleton's CyclopÆdia. Besides the copy of the narrative made by Mrs Basil Hall, another copy came into the possession of the poet Rogers. This copy is now owned by W. Arthur Sharpe, Esq., Highgate, N. Both the above versions—which contain only slight variations—have been consulted in the present edition of the narrative.

Captain Basil Hall, R.N. (vide Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xxiv., p. 58), was a well-known author in his day, his best known work being Fragments of Voyages and Travels, published in three series between 1831 and 1833, and frequently reprinted since.

In Volume II. of the first series, Captain Hall alludes to his first meeting with De Lancey. It occurred on board H.M.S. Endymion on the morning of the 18th January 1809, when the British troops had all been safely embarked on the transports, the second day after the battle of Corunna.

Basil Hall—then a lieutenant in the navy—and De Lancey[26] struck up a great friendship on the Endymion, and the former introduced his soldier friend after the voyage home to his family in Scotland. The marriage of De Lancey six years afterwards to Basil Hall's sister Magdalene was a result of this introduction.

[26] De Lancey was at this time a lieutenant-colonel and permanent assistant in the quartermaster-general's department (Army List, 1809, p. 323).

His first commission as a cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons bore the date 7th July 1792 (Army List, 1793, p. 50), when he was only eleven years old.

He was gazetted lieutenant in the same regiment on the 26th February 1793, and was subsequently transferred to the 80th Foot.

On the 20th October 1796 he was gazetted captain in the 17th Light Dragoons, of which regiment his uncle, General Oliver De Lancey, was then colonel.

He obtained a majority in the 45th (or Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot on the 17th October 1799. He was by this time eighteen years of age, and up to this date had probably no connection with the army at all beyond drawing his pay and figuring in the Army List. Even now he does not appear to have joined his regiment until its return from the West Indies, a year or two afterwards (Dict. Nat. Biog., vol. xiv., p. 305). His first uniform was probably that of the 45th Foot, and the portrait, forming the frontispiece of this volume, was in all likelihood painted on his first joining the regiment as a major in 1800 or 1801.

In the Army List of 1804 he is shown on page 31 as an assistant quartermaster-general. His actual regimental service can therefore hardly have exceeded two or three years. Until his death in 1815, he was continuously on the staff of the army in the quartermaster-general's department.