During this time, Black read extensively from the local subscription library and began a book collection that would become a major preoccupation of his life.

When Mudford moved to London and became editor of Universal Magazine, Black contributed articles on Italian drama and German literature.

In December 1812 he married Elizabeth Frances 'Fanny' Cropley, the mistress of a London friend William Fisher; the union was short and loveless, and she plagued Black financially for years afterward.

[3] Yet it soon rose to over 9,000, aided in part by the decision of The Times the following year to shift its political stance to support for Robert Peel's administration, a move that led many subscribers to abandon it in favor of Black's pro-Whig paper.

[4] By 1843, Black's energy was failing him, and Easthope sought to replace him with his son-in-law Andrew Doyle, the Chronicle's foreign editor.

His friend Walter Coulson lent him a cottage in Snodland, where he spent the remaining years of his life gardening and studying the Greek language.