In 1830 he went to Saint-Quentin in Picardy to look for work, but the revolution of July 1830 disrupted his plans, and after two months he made his way via Paris to Mülhausen, where again he was disappointed.
He gave up that work, and for a time kept a small shop in Manchester, but his life from that point did not go well, as he tried to live mainly by selling his poems, and took to drink.
He gained a grant from the royal bounty and from 1845 to 1851 he was salaried editor of the Ancient Shepherd's Quarterly Magazine, published at Ashton-under-Lyne.
[1][3] Prince began to write verse in 1827, and from the following year he was an occasional contributor to the Phœnix and other local periodicals.
After moving to Long Millgate in Manchester in 1840 and opening a book and stationery store, Prince began frequenting the nearby Sun Inn and became a popular figure among the regular clientele of working class intellectuals.
[5] In 1842 he undertook a journey on foot to London, recording his impressions and experiences in a series of letters to Bradshaw's Journal, edited by George Falkner, another member of the Sun Inn Group.