He was conscious of a handsome face and figure, and knew their value in such a court as that of Louis XV.

He gave up his trade as a watch-maker, and bought successively different places about the court, the last of which was sold at a price sufficient to entitle him to claim gentility; so that, in one of his subsequent railings against the nobles, he declared that his nobility was more incontestable than that of most of the body, since he could produce the stamped receipt for it.

Following the example of Moliere and Voltaire, he changed his name, and called himself Beaumarchais.

He married two rich widows.

He formed a connection with the celebrated financier, Paris Duverney, who initiated him in the mysteries of stock-jobbing.