A writer of sensational novels, born at Paris; was for some years an army surgeon, and served in the Spanish campaign of 1823; his father's death (1829) bringing him a handsome fortune, he retired from the army to devote himself to literature; his reputation as a writer rests mainly on his well-known works "The Mysteries of Paris" (1842) and "The Wandering Jew" (1845), which, displaying little skill on the artistic side, yet rivet their readers' attention by a wealth of exciting incident and plot; was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1850, but the coup d'état of 1852 drove him an exile to Annecy, in Savoy, where he died (1804-1859).