Designed and built by London instrument maker William Cary, this microscope is reviewed in Gerard Turner's book The Great Age of the Microscope. The original microscope has a coat of arms belonging to the Earls of Stanhope fixed to the inside of the box cover, probably meaning that it belonged to Charles Stanhope (1753-1816), who was well known for his interest in microscopy.

A mahogany storage box lined with blue baize doubles as a stand for the microscope, which is assembled in three pieces. The body tube (also made of mahogany) is attached to the base with a brass pillar threaded into a boss. A brass cylinder fits one end of the body tube, and interchangeably holds one of several lenses including three plano-convex and a single bi-convex lens. The other end of the body tube has rackwork and draw tube for focusing the microscope. Both the stage and lamp are supported by telescoping brass pillars secured to the base with threaded bosses. A small U-clip on the stage is used to hold specimens.

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