The winter of 1813 was one long to be remembered in England. Christmas day was exceptionally beautiful, fine and clear, but the day following a frost set in and continued without interruption till the month of April. All inland navigation ceased, and nearly all the song-birds perished. The Thames was frozen, and a great Fair was held upon it, when oxen were roasted, while on the Tweed there was an ice-fête at which fifty gentlemen sat down to dinner. When at last the frost broke, the country presented a curious and a wonderful sight; enormous masses of ice accumulated and were carried down the river, while vessels which had been moored to the banks were lifted up bodily by the overwhelming force of the torrent and, later, left stranded far away in the neighbouring fields. _Mrs Spencer-Stanhope to Charles Spencer-Stanhope._ _February 28th, 1814._ We have had the most severe winter I ever remember--the whole Kingdom was rendered impassible from the deepness of the snow & the streets in London were in a state I never heard of their being in before. I heard from your brothers from Ulm, etc. The country they had travelled through was beautiful, but the roads horrible; they were upset once. At Munich they saw the Crown Prince at a ball & at Stuttgart John waited upon the Queen of Wurtemburg who received him most graciously and inquired after us all. It is said that she is in a bad state of health & is coming to England. At the Hague they dined with the Prince of Orange, the report is that in June he is to be married to the Princess Charlotte of Wales. The Allies have met with some checks, notwithstanding it is said they are going on well. The attention of the whole civilised world was centred on the events happening in France. In March came intelligence of the victory of the Allies which enabled them to occupy Paris. "I shall never forget," writes Charles Stanhope, "the sensation it made in London. For a week past we hardly understood the operations of the armies, when at last despatches were received from the height of Montmartre. Everyone seemed drunk with the news." This was followed by that of the abdication of Napoleon on April 5th, 1814. All Europe went mad with joy, and, within a month, Louis XVIII. had entered his capital as King. In the June following it was arranged that the Allies should visit England, but while preparations for the consequent rejoicings were in progress, Mrs Stanhope and her family attended a festivity which they regarded with almost greater interest.