Jean-Toussaint Merle (1785 - 1852)

Jean-Toussaint Merle was a French journalist and playwright who served as the director of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris from 1822-1826. As a journalist, he was published in a variety of periodicals including French Royalist newspaper La Quotidienne, in which he wrote a column devoted to theatre criticism. As a playwright, he wrote more than a hundred plays, mostly in collaboration. In 1830, Merle experienced the Invasion of Algiers firsthand by accompanying the Marshal of France (Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont) as personal secretary, later writing a book about the invasion.