Eight months after these festivities, news arrived in London that on March 1st, 1815, Napoleon had once more landed in France, followed by the intelligence that on March 20th he had entered Paris. In June the Campaign of Waterloo began by the defeat of Blucher at Ligny, where John Stanhope had so long resided. But on the 18th of the same month, "The fops of Piccadilly became the heroes of Waterloo," and that famous victory decided for all time the fate of the Conqueror of Europe. Four days later he again abdicated, and on July 15th he surrendered himself to the English. _Mrs Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._ _July 28th._ What great and surprising events have happened in little more than a month. The Battle of Waterloo was one of the bravest & greatest ever fought, & has decided the fate of Europe, therefore though we must lament the many gallant men who fell on that dreadful day, yet not a life was lost in vain, & when we consider what the blood would have been had the Campaign continued, we must look upon the loss as small. The surrender of Bonaparte is such an unexpected event, that I can scarcely yet credit it, for I never supposed he would have lived to have become a Prisoner. What will be done with him? Thank Heaven we can now confidently look forward to Peace. Private events, however, distracted the attention and gave employment to the pen of Mrs Stanhope during the year which followed. The health of her husband was gradually declining. He was under the necessity of renouncing his seat in Parliament, where he had respectively represented Haslemere, Carlisle and Hull during a space of nearly forty years. Deprived of the work which for so long a period had completely absorbed his thoughts and energies, his spirits flagged. The vivacity, the wit for which he had been noted deserted him and he sank gradually into a mental lethargy which, as his malady increased, at times almost amounted to torpor, but alternated with a restlessness and irritation of the nerves very distressing to witness. In order to divert his attention from the life with which he could no longer mingle, it was decided that novelty of scene might have a beneficial result. His family therefore proceeded to travel, but that the liveliness of his daughters was undiminished and their taste for society as keen, appears by a letter written by Marianne from Tunbridge Wells to her brother John in Yorkshire. TUNBRIDGE WELLS, _October 2nd, 1816._