Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Santa Cruz, Maria de las Mercedes

SANTA CRUZ, Maria de las Mercedes. Countess of Merlin, Cuban author, b. in Havana in 1789; d. in Paris, France, in 1852. When fourteen years old she sailed with her parents for Spain, and finished her education in Madrid. In 1810 she married the French general. Count Merlin, and in 1813, when the French troops left Spain, she went to Paris. There she soon became well known in French society, and her home was the resort of persons that were eminent in science, literatxire, and art. In 1840 she made a visit to her native city, but in 1842 she returned again to her adopted country, where she had already obtained a reputa- tion by her literary labors. Her most important works are " Mis doce primeros aflos " (Paris, 1833) ; Memoires d'une Creole" (1835); "Ocios de una mujer de gran mundo " (1837) ; " L'esclavage anx colonies Espagnoles " (1840) ; " La Havane " (3 vols., 1842); "Les lionnes de Paris" (1845); and "Le due d'Athenes " (1848). Many of her works have been translated into several European languages, and some of them were written originally in Span- ish, though the, majority were in French.