studying famous buildings and collecting, meanwhile, priceless treasures
in pictures, statues, and furniture, so that on his return he
reconstructed his home in London, and replenished it with beautiful
possessions. In 1805 he published a handsome volume on Household
Furniture, illustrated by many drawings of the fine specimens in his own
house. He afterwards wrote other works, but is most celebrated as the
writer of a romance, _Anastasius_, the authorship of which was at one time
attributed to Byron, and of a scientific work, _The Origin and Prospects
of Man_, which may be considered the parent of the well-known _Vestiges of
Creation_, and which formed the basis of one of Carlyle's most remarkable
essays.

In 1806, he was, however, still looked upon as a mere superficial
dilettante, though, on account of the _objets d'art_ which he owned,
everyone was eager to gain access to his house. This desire was
accentuated with regard to the party which he gave that year, it being the
first for which he had issued invitations since his marriage, in the
previous April, with Louisa, the youngest daughter of the Right Rev. Lord
Decies, Archbishop of Tuam.


_Mrs Spencer-Stanhope to John Spencer-Stanhope._
_June 6th, 1806._

Had you been here on the Birthday night, you would have pronounced us
of the Wronghead Family, for we had nothing but _contretemps_ from the
moment we set out for the Drawingroom till the next day rose upon us.

At three we set out in wind and rain for St James's, & drove down
Grosvenor Street; but as there was a string of carriages from Oxford