Grossmith had become the most popular solo entertainer of his day, and his tours earned him far more than he had earned while performing with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He also continued to compose music, including the comic opera "Castle Bang" (1894) and the sketches "The Ibsenite Drama" (1895) and "Do We Enjoy Our Holidays?" (1897) and songs like "The Baby on the Shore" (1893), "Johnnie at the Gaiety" (1895), "Tommy's First Love" (1897), and "The Happy Old Days at Peckham" (1903). In 1894–95, however, Gilbert enticed Grossmith to take the role of George Griffenfeld in "His Excellency", with music by Frank Osmond Carr. Also in 1897, he played briefly as King Ferdinand V of Vingolia in F. C. Burnand's "His Majesty" at the Savoy Theatre and made two more short London stage appearances thereafter, as Scoones in "Young Mr Yarde" (1898) and Lambert Simnel in "The Gay Pretenders" (1900). An 1896 interview of Grossmith reveals him feeling his age and considering the end of his touring career, while enjoying time spent at home with his family, dogs and antique piano collection. Grossmith suffered from depression after the death of his wife of cancer in 1905, and his health began to fail, so that he increasingly missed engagements. He was nevertheless persuaded to continue giving his entertainments, which he did on a less frequent basis, until November 1908. The following year, Grossmith retired to Folkestone, Kent, a town that he had visited for many years, where he wrote his second volume of reminiscences, "Piano and I" (1910).