Népomucène Lemercier

Népomucène Lemercier (born April 21, 1771, Paris, France—died June 7, 1840, Paris) was a poet and dramatist, a late proponent of classical tragedy over Romanticism, and the originator of French historical comedy. An accident caused Lemercier lifelong partial paralysis. He made a precocious literary debut, attempting a comedy at age 9 and having his first tragedy, Méléagre, produced at the Comédie-Française before he was 16. His Tartuffe révolutionnaire (1795) created a succès de scandale and...