inually an increase to
her collection, when, by her fatal marriage, the cruel spoiler came
and threw them, like loathsome weeds, away."

Mr. Lochee, before mentioned, purchased Stanley Grove from the Countess
of Strathmore and her husband, Mr. Bowes. It was afterwards occupied by
Dr. Richard Warren, the eminent physician, who died in 1797, and who is
said to have acquired by the honourable practice of his profession no
less a sum than 150,000 pounds. In January 1808, Mr. Leonard Morse, of
the War Office, died at his residence, Stanley House, and about 1815 it
was purchased by the late Mr. William Richard Hamilton, who ranks as one
of the first scholars and antiquaries of his day. Between that year and
1840 Mr. Hamilton resided here at various periods, having occasionally
let it. He made a considerable addition to the house by building a
spacious room as a wing on the east side, in the walls of which casts
from the frieze and metopes of the Elgin marbles were let in.

When Mr. Hamilton proceeded as envoy to the court of Naples in 1821,
Stanley Grove House became the residence of Mrs. Gregor, and is thus
described by Miss Burney, who was an inmate at this time, in the
following playful letter {133} to a friend, dated 24th September, 1821:--

"Whilst you have been traversing sea and land, scrambling up rocks
and shuddering beside precipices, I have been stationary, with no
other variety than such as turning to the right instead of the left
when walking in the garden, or sometimes driving into town through
Westminster, and, at other times, through Piccadilly. Poor Miss
Gregor continues to be a complete invalid, and, for her sake, we give
up all society at home and all engagements abroad. Luckily, the
house, rented by Mrs. Gregor from William Hamilton, Esq. (who
accompanied Lord Elgin into Greece) abounds with interesting
specimens in almost every branch of the fine arts. Here are statues,
casts from the frieze of the Parthenon, pictures, prints, books, and
minerals; _four_ pianofortes of different sizes, and an excellent
harp. All this to study does Desdemona (that's me) seriously
incline; and the more I study the more I want to know and to see. In
short, I am crazy to travel in Greece! The danger is that some
good-for-nothing bashaw should seize upon me to poke me into his
harem, there to bury my charms for life, and condemn me for ever