While he was confined in a sponging-house from 1823 to 1825, he wrote the nine volumes of stories afterwards collected under the title of "Sayings and Doings" (1824–1828). In the early 1820s, he helped the singer Michael Kelly compile his "Reminiscences", which include details of working with Mozart. In the remaining 23 years of his life, he poured forth 38 volumes besides articles, squibs and sketches. His novels have frequent passages of racy narrative and vivid portraiture. They include "Maxwell" (1830), a portrait of his friend the Reverend E. Cannon; "Love and Pride" (1833); the autobiographic "Gilbert Gurney" (1835) and "Gurney Married" (1838); "Jack Brag" (1837) and "Peregrine Bunce" (1842). He did not finish a biographical work on Charles Mathews. His last novel was "Births, Marriages and Deaths" (1839).