But alas! for Mr Maddocks; ere the "black gloves" were discarded, Esther had fulfilled the prophecy of Mrs Calvert. She broke off her engagement; scrupulously, however, refunding to Mr Maddocks every penny which he had spent upon her. This second instance on her part of jilting a fiancé confirmed many people in the belief of her heartlessness; but the reason which probably determined her action on this latter occasion was that she had already met the one man, who, she recognised, could enchain her fickle affections for all time.
Meanwhile, on March 13th, Mrs Stanhope wrote to her son:—
We are all now in sable for the Duchess of Brunswick who was sister to the King and Mother to the Princess of Wales.
April 19th.
Bonaparte seems to be making a great effort & I should hope the last, for the spirit of the Germans seems at length to be roused. I trust in God they will not be too eager to show their teeth before they can bite—to use an old proverb.
The Russians are a glorious people. Two Cossacks are now here, & they invite great curiosity. Yesterday being Sunday, thousands & thousands were in the Park to see one of them ride, and in Kensington Gardens they cheered him.
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.