He then retreated into the farce; and
then he retired--forever.
After Munden's retirement Lamb almost entirely forsook the theatre; and
his habits became more solitary. He had not relinquished society, nor
professedly narrowed the circle of his friends. But insensibly his
visitors became fewer in number, and came less frequently. Some had died;
some had grown old; some had increased occupation to care for. His old
Wednesday evenings had ceased, and he had placed several miles of road
between London (the residence of their families) and his own home. The
weight of years, indeed, had its effect in pressing down his strength and
buoyancy; his spirit no longer possessed its old power of rebound. Even
the care of housekeeping (not very onerous, one would suppose) troubled
Charles and his sister so much, that they determined to abandon it. This
occurred in 1829. Then they became boarders and lodgers, with an old
person (T. W.), who was their next-door neighbor at Enfield; and of him
Lamb has given an elaborate description. T. W., his new landlord or
housekeeper, he says, is seventy years old; "he has something, under a
competence;" he has one joke, and forty pounds a year, upon which he
retires in a green old age: he laughs when he hears a joke, and when
(which is much oftener) he hears it not.
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