He provided a lodging for her at Hackney, and spent all his Sundays and
holidays with her. I never heard of John Lamb having contributed anything,
in money or otherwise, cowards the support of his deranged sister, or to
assist his young struggling brother.
Soon after this time Charles took his sister Mary to live with himself
entirely. Whenever the approach of one of her fits of insanity was
announced by some irritability or change of manner, he would take her,
under his arm, to Hoxton Asylum. It was very afflicting to encounter the
young brother and his sister walking together (weeping together) on this
painful errand; Mary herself, although sad, very conscious of the
necessity for temporary separation from her only friend. They used to
carry a strait jacket with them.
In the latter days of his father's life, Charles must have had an
uncomfortable home. "I go home at night overwearied, quite faint, and then
to cards with my father, who will not let me enjoy a meal in peace. After
repeated games at cribbage" (he is writing to Coleridge), "I have got my
father's leave to write; with difficulty got it: for when I expostulated
about playing any more, he replied, 'If you won't play with me, you might
as well not come home at all.
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