Studied at Vilnius University. One of the founders of the Philomaths and Philaret societies. He belonged to the Vilnius Freemasons and the Society of the "Non-users" (Polish: szubrawcy). When the Russians tracked down the Vilnius secret circles, he was arrested and exiled to Orenburg near the Urals. He researched the minerals of the Urals and headed the Orenburg Museum. In 1841 he returned to the Lithuanian Governorate. From 1816 onwards, he wrote elegies, ballads, triolettes, poems and other genres. He was close friends with A. Mickiewicz and other Vilnius writers of the time. He published much of his work in the periodical press.
