The private drawing room where Lady Spencer
received her guests, this room was described
by Arthur Young in 1772 as 'fitted up with great
taste; scarce anything can be more beautiful than
the mosaic ceiling, the cornices and all the
ornaments'. The ceiling is one of Stuart's best
designs, based on a ceiling in the Baths of Augustus
in Rome, while the frieze is adapted from that of the Erechtheum in Athens.