I had a Christmas lunch in Spencer House, always a pleasure, not least for the opportunity of seeing inside one of the best preserved of the eighteenth-century mansions in the west end.   It was originally designed by John Vardy for John Spencer, first Earl Spencer.   According to the terms of his inheritance from the ghastly Duchess of Marlborough, Spencer was not able to take government office, so devoted himself instead to the construction of Spencer House and the pleasures of garden parties and shooting at Althorp.   At Spencer House, Vardy was replaced by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, who decorated it in a style which is heavier and more emphatic than his rival, Robert Adam:-