His wit, good-looks and adventurous lifestyle made him well known in Paris, where he was a friend of Alexandre Dumas, père.

Of independent means, he wed actress and author Léocadie Doze in 1847.

He was imprisoned for three months and fined 500 francs for a satirical poem, Mon Procs, written in 1849.

Afflicted with gout and nearly destitute from his flamboyant lifestyle, he spent the last few years of his life unhappily confined to a chair, dying in Paris.

[1] His best-known works included Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1840), Les Oeufs de Paques (1856) and Le Pauvre Diable (reprinted 1871).