Nodier brought many of the major French literary Romanticists together in a climate of ideas and influence. Hugo, Vigny, Dumas, Lamartine, Sainte-Beuve and Musset were all core members of his salon, the Salon de l’Arsenal or Cénacle. Both Dumas (a chance meeting in a theatre) and Hugo (who eventually wrested leadership from Nodier) had been befriended before. More occasional or latter-day members (some attracted as much by Nodier’s daughter’s looks) included Balzac, Nerval, Gautier, Mérimée (Nodier’s biographer), Delacroix and Liszt. Nodier met Scott, whom he admired, on a visit to Scotland in 1821.