Godwin had discussed the possibilty of a separate publication for his next novel Cloudesley in the United States with the American writer Washington Irving (author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle). He potentially sent a manuscript to New York for this purpose, although it is notable that he continued to revise a manuscript which was eventually sent to the publishers Colburn and Bentley. Further to this, there is a possibility that this note simply referred to an agreement he had made to provide a separate manuscript for publication in America. If this is indeed the case, it may account for the reference to a call made on Frederick Reynolds with a duplicate, and also for the fact that he continued to revise all through December, even after the manuscript had ‘go[ne] to the press’, noted in the diary entry for the 28 November. The novel was finally published on 4 March 1830.