Prosper Merimée, (born Sept. 28, 1803, Paris—died Sept. 23, 1870, Cannes, Fr.), French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and master of the short story whose works—Romantic in theme but Classical and controlled in style—were a renewal of Classicism in a Romantic age. Of a cultured, middle-class Norman background, Mérimée first studied law but was more devoted to learning the Greek, Spanish, English, and Russian languages and their literatures. At 19 he wrote his first play, Cromwell (1822); his close friend the novelist Stendhal encouraged him in this literary direction.