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] [Footnote 25: "Recollections of Waterloo," by a Staff Officer, in _United Service Journal_ for 1847, Part III., p. 11.] "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." [Illustration: Lady de Lancey From a miniature after J.D. Engleheart] 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 _Cyclopaedia_. 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. [Footnote 26: De Lancey was at this time a lieutenant-colonel and permanent assistant in the quartermaster-general's department (Army List, 1809, p. 323).