 Grimaldi 's father suffered ill health for many years and died of dropsy in 1788 . As a result , at age 9 , Grimaldi became the family 's principal breadwinner . Sheridan paid him an above @-@ average wage of £ 1 a week at Drury Lane , and allowed his mother to work at Drury Lane as a dancer . However , the proprietors of Sadler 's Wells were less supportive , cutting Grimaldi 's pay from 15 shillings to 3 shillings a week , at which level it remained for the next three years . The loss of Giuseppe 's income and Joseph 's reduced summertime earnings meant the Grimaldis could no longer afford to keep the house in Holborn . They moved to the slum district of St. Giles , where they took lodgings with a furrier in Great Wild Street . Grimaldi 's brother , John Baptiste , illegally signed on as a cabin boy aboard a frigate in 1788 , when he was nine , using a false identity . Grimaldi saw him only once more in his life . 
