On 18 November 1841 Richards brought out an anonymous pamphlet "Oxford Unmasked", in which he denounced abuses in the organisation of the university. It passed through five editions; and its authorship became known. His first dramatic work, published in 1845, was a five-act tragedy "Crœsus, King of Lydia". Four other five-act dramas followed: "Runnymede" in 1846, "Cromwell" in 1847, "Isolda, or Good King Stephen" in 1848, and "Vandyck, a Play of Genoa", in 1850. In 1846 there appeared his first volume of poems, "Death and the Magdalen", and in 1848 another, entitled "The Dream of the Soul".