Dictionary.net

A French journalistic agitator and political and economic writer, illegitimate son of Count Alexander de Girard in and Madame Dupuy; born in Paris (not in Switzerland), June 22, 1806 (or 1803?); died there, April 27, 1881. His early years were passed in poverty and neglect, but he contrived to educate himself sufficiently to write at 19 a sentimental novel, "Emile", which met with popular favor. It was as a journalist that he first made himself known among the French, he being indeed the originator of the cheap popular press of Paris with its enormous circulations. His first wife was Sophie Gay. He accumulated a fortune, and led an anti-Prussian agitation in the war of 1870. "Political Studies", "The Abolition of Authority through the Simplification of Government", and "The Periodical Press in the Nineteenth Century", are among his more solid writings. He was the author of a few clever comedies.