 For the first few years following their marriage , the Roseberys resided in London in the Piccadilly house Lady Rosebery had inherited from her father . However , as the couple 's social and political interests increased from 1882 , they leased the larger Lansdowne House . Lansdowne House was one of the finest of the aristocratic palaces in London , well suited to be the home of the political <unk> which Hannah Rosebery was to establish . Here political and social leaders of the day mixed with royalty , authors such as Henry James and Oscar Wilde , and other prominent social and intellectual figures of the time . Henry James , an occasional guest in the Roseberys ' homes , delivered one of the most <unk> condemnations of Lady Rosebery describing her as " ... large , coarse , Hebrew @-@ looking with hair of no particular colour and personally unattractive " . 
