During 1820, Ainsworth began to publish many of his works under the name "Thomas Hall". The first work, a play called "The Rivals", was published on 5 March 1821 in "Arliss's Pocket Magazine". Throughout 1821, the magazine printed seventeen other works of Ainsworth's under the names "Thomas Hall", "H A" or "W A". The genre and forms of the work greatly varied, with one being a claim to have found plays of a 17th-century playwright "William Aynesworthe", which ended up being his own works. This trick was later exposed. In December 1821, Ainsworth submitted his play "Venice, or the Fall of the Foscaris" to "The Edinburgh Magazine". They printed large excerpts from the play before praising Ainsworth as a playwright as someone that rivalled even George Gordon Byron. During this time, Ainsworth was also contributing works to "The European Magazine" in addition to the other magazines, and they published many of his early stories. Eventually, he left Manchester Grammar School in 1822 while constantly contributing to magazines.