Edinburgh Bookshelf

Kay's Originals Vol. 2

Search

348 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. the papers at the time-gives a brief but affecting account of his conduct on quitting the field :- ‘‘‘Among those who have fallen, you will learn with poignant regret the fate of Lieutennnt- Colonel WILLIAMM ILLER, of the Guards. It was only yesterday evening that I heard the melancholy tidings. He was brought wounded to Brussels, on the evening of the 16th, and expired on the following evening; and, I am happy to add, without suffering. In his last mortal scene he displayed the soul and the spirit of a hero. On finding himself wounded, he sent for Colonel Thomas.-‘Thomas,’ said he, ‘I feel I am mortally wounded ; I am pleased to think that it is my fate rather than yours, whose life is involved in that of your young wife.’ After a pause, he said faintly, ‘I should like to see the colours of the regiment once more, before I quit them for ever.’ They were brought to him, and waved round his wounded body. His countenance brightened, he smiled ; and declaring himself satisfied, he was carried from the field. In all this you will see the falling of a hero-a delicacy of sentiment, a selfdevotion, and a resignation, which have never been surpassed.’ [His friend Colonel Thomas, we are sorry to add, was killed on the 18th.I” The remains of Colonel Miller were interred at Brussels, in a cemetery where repose many of the more distinguished of the heroes who fell at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. A monumental stone, erected to his memory, bears the following inscription :- “The remains of LIEUT.-COLONRMLI LLER, of the 1st Regiment of British Foot Guards, of Glenlee, born near Edinburgh, in Scotland, mortally wounded, at the age of thirty-one years, in the action with the French army at Les Quatre Eras, 16th July 1815, died at Brussels on the following day, are deposited here. Many British gentlemen fell with him, doing their duty, none of a more spotless life, or who had given fairer promises of rising to eminence in his profession” Near to the tomb of Colonel Miller is that of Sir Williarn Howe de Lancey, whose fate it was to --‘‘ C hange the bridal wreath For laurels from the hand of death. ” He was wounded on the lSth, and died at Brussels on the 26th of June. The drooping branches of a large yew-tree now wave mournfully over the two graves. Lord Glenlee Was in 1837 the senior Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh j and it is worth mentioning that he was the first admitted fellow (in 1781), and before his death was the oldest member of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. In 1786 he was one of the Censors-in 1798, one of the Council -and was repeatedly one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. He died in 1846 in his ninety-first year.’ Sir William married his cousin, Grizel, daughter of George Chalmers, Esq., by whom he had five sons and four daughters, of whom three sons and three daughters survived. See Cockburn’s LiJe ofJe$rey. Crown Svo, page 117.
Volume 9 Page 462
  Enlarge Enlarge  
Volume 9 Page 463
  Enlarge Enlarge     Pictures Pictures