I. Charles Paul De

I. Charles Paul De, a French novelist and dramatist, born at Passy, near Paris, May 21,1794, died in Paris, Aug. 29,1871. The son of a Dutch banker, who had removed to France, and who died on the scaffold during the revolution, he was carelessly educated under his mother's supervision, and entered a banking house in the capacity of a clerk. In 1812 he printed at his own risk his first novel, L'Enfant de ma femme, which was unsuccessful. He then produced a number of melodramas, vaudevilles, and comic operas, which brought him into notice. In the mean time he published several lively but not very decent tales and novels, which increased his popularity until he became the great favorite of a large class of readers, both in France and abroad, his publications being rapidly translated. His dramatic works number over 100. Many of his novels and vaudevilles were written in part by others, and several bear his name without being his work. Prominent among his literary assistants were Boyer, Varin, Labie, and his own son.

See his Memoires inedits (Paris, 1873).

II. Henri De

II. Henri De, a novelist and dramatist, son of the preceding, born in Paris in 1821. He writes with the same fecundity and in nearly the same style as his father. His works now number about 100, and many of them were written with the assistance of Barriere, Fournier, and Gonzales, and of his father.