intimated his wish to resign. The Directors of the East India House call
him into their private room, and after complimenting him on his long and
meritorious services, they suggest that his health does not appear to be
good; that a little ease is expedient at his time of life, and they then
conclude their conversation by suddenly intimating their intention of
granting him a pension, for his life, of two thirds of the amount of his
salary; "a magnificent offer," as he terms it. He is from that moment
emancipated; let loose from all ties of labor, free to fly wheresoever he
will. At the commencement of the talk Charles had had misgivings, for he
was summoned into the "formidable back parlor," he says, and thought that
the Directors were about to intimate that they had no further occasion for
his services. The whole scene seems like one of the summer sunsets,
preceded by threatenings of tempest, when the dark piles of clouds are
separated and disappear, lost and swallowed by the radiance which fills
the whole length and breadth of the sky, and looks as if it would be
eternal. "I don't know what I answered," Lamb says, "between surprise and
gratitude; but it was understood that I accepted their proposal, and I was
told that I was free from that hour to leave their service. I stammered
out a bow, and, at just ten minutes after eight, I went home--forever."

At this time Lamb's salary was six hundred pounds per annum. The amount of
two thirds of this sum, therefore, would be an annuity of four hundred
pounds. But an annual provision was also made for his sister, in case she
should survive him; and this occasioned a small diminution. In exact
figures, he was to receive three hundred and ninety-one pounds a year
during the remainder of his life, and then an annuity was to become
payable to Mary Lamb. His sensations, first of stupefaction, and
afterwards of measureless delight, will be seen by reference to his
exulting letters of this period. First he writes to Wordsworth of "the
good that has befallen me." These are his words: "I came home--forever--on