French author, born in Nancy, France, on the 3rd of January 1730. He was a precocious student, and, deciding to engage in literature, left the Congregation of the Oratory, of which he was a member. He wrote various comedies and tragedies, but attracted little attention until he began to write scurrilous attacks on the philosophers. He satirized Rousseau in the comedy Le Cercle (1755); and Diderot in Petites Lettres Contre des Grands Philosophes (1756). His greatest notoriety was gained from his comedy, Les Philosophes (1760). Merellet wrote a bright and biting answer to this play, in resentment for which, Palissot, upon a charge of libel, succeeded in having him sent for a brief sojourn to the Bastille. He died on the 15th of June 1814.
