This arrangement lasted until John's death in 1799. John was allowed to continue receiving his salary while another man stood in for him in the Inner Temple, performing his duties. Around this time, John Lamb had a stroke, losing most of the use of his left hand. They moved to a home in Little Queen Street, near High Holborn. Samuel Salt left £600 to the Lambs, along with small annuities. John Lamb continued to work in his old position in the Great Hall of the Inner Temple, where he had waited on Salt, but his wages were not sufficient to keep the lodgings that had been provided without cost by Salt. Samuel Salt died in 1792, and the Lambs had to move out of their lodgings soon afterwards (see tied accommodation). Her father may have taken her with him on his trips to the Pope's Head book shop nearby. Mary remembered seeing, at the age of five, the writer Oliver Goldsmith in the street, and she also witnessed David Garrick's acting. Mary learned about literature and writers from her father's stories of the times he had seen Samuel Johnson, who lived nearby, and his visitors. Only two of Mary's siblings survived: her older brother John Jr. Her parents worked for Samuel Salt, a barrister in London, and the family lived above Salt in his home at 2 Crown Office Row in the Inner Temple. Mary Lamb was born in London on 3 December 1764, the third of seven children of John and Elizabeth Lamb. She and Charles presided over a literary circle in London that included the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others. She was confined to mental facilities for most of her remaining life.

Mary suffered from mental illness, and in 1796, aged 31, she stabbed her mother to death during a mental breakdown. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles on the collection Tales from Shakespeare (1807). Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – ) was an English writer.

Tales from shakespeare mary lamb