• Name: Mercier, Louis
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 6  June  1740
• Death Date: 25  April  1814

Mercier is a friend of Holcroft'swhom he met in London, probably during Mercier's visit in 1781, and who visits him again in the 1790s when in England. Probably through this Mercier, Holcroft met his brother, Charles André Mercier, when he was running a hotel in Pais in 1783. Charles André settled in England between 1795 and 1799, and his famiy seem to have remained in England until his return in 1802. Charles André 's daughter Louisa Mercier-Holcroftbecame Holcroft's fourth wife. Louis Sebastian Mercier was a prominent French writer, author of Tableau de Paris etc . However, it is likely that not all the 'Mercier' entries refer to him as he goes back to Paris (although they are consistent with him being imprisoned under the Terror). The later entries are more difficult positively to associate with him. Also, there seems to be an attempt to distinguish Charlotte, Charles, B and E Mercier, who all seem to be linked with the Holcrofts.

The references to Mercier early in the diary have been taken to refer consistently to Mercier from Paris who was to become Holcroft's father in law, moreover, the other Merciers mentioned also seem to be closely linked with Holcroft, or with his daughter Fanny. This is not true of the entries for 1834 - for Mercier the painter, where there is a short, but intensive, period of mutually calling. There are two Mercier entries in 1814, one in 1815 and one in 1819, while L S Mercier dies in June 1814. This suggests that Godwin has started to use Mercier for a child or relative of LS, possibly from an earlier date. Nonetheless, the continuing proximity to and association with the Holcrofts and Kenney's suggest that there is a close relationship between these different Merciers.

All Merciers, other than those in 1834, have been coded under L S Mercier because of the links between them and Godwin through Holcroft and his family; even though some are entries after Louis Mercier's death in 1814. The entries in 1834 to Mercier the painter have been coded separately as there is no evidence of a family connection. This Mercier is a portrait painter of 28 Old Bond Street, London, whose work is highly praised in an article in The Morning Post (London, England), Wednesday, April 23, 1834, and who achieves his portraits in a single sitting. He brought a charge of assualt against one Maguire in 1834, reported in The Morning Chronicle (London, England), Wednesday, October 1, 1834

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This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.