Scherer, EDMOND-HENRI-ADOLPHE, a distinguished French critic, was born in Paris in 1815. His father was of Swiss extraction, and his mother was the daughter of a London banker settled in Paris. After receiving the elements of his education in Paris, he was sent to England to reside with a dissenting minister, the Rev. Thomas Loader of Monmouth. During his two years' residence Scherer acquired a knowledge of the English language, which he turned to excellent account in his subsequent career as a literary critic. At this time also he became so deeply influenced by religious feelings that it was his strong desire at once to begin theological studies with a view to entering the church. By the desire of his parents, however, he returned to Paris, and during the next three years he completed his studies in literature and law. In 1836 he went to Strasburg, where he qualified himself for the ministry of the Protestant Church. Discovering that preaching was not his true function, he accepted the professorship of Exegesis in the Oratory at Geneva (1845). In Geneva he was closely associated with Vinet in his advocacy of a severance between church and state, expounding his views in La Réformation au XIXme Siècle, a journal of which Scherer himself was editor. Gradually, however, he drifted away from his early faith, and in 1850 he was finally expelled from the church. For the next ten years he still lived in Geneva, mainly occupied in religious controversy. In 1860 he left Geneva for Paris, where he at once found ample scope for his powers in literary and political criticism. Besides being a regular contributor to Le Temps, he also acted as French correspondent to the Daily News, and sent occasional communications to different American papers. In 1871 he was elected representative for the department of Oise-et-Marne, and attained considerable distinction as a practical politician. He died in Paris, 16th March 1889.
By the solidity and extent of his knowledge, his severely logical method, and the range of subjects he has treated Scherer takes a high place among modern literary critics. His distinctive character as a critic lies in his combination of the qualities of the trained thinker and scholar with a keen susceptibility to the most diverse products of creative effort. His defects appear in a certain lack of elasticity and flexibility, partly due to his early training and partly to a naturally rigorous cast of mind, which disposes him to undue severity where he cannot sympathise.
See Edmond Scherer, par Octave Gréard of the French Academy (1890), and the Introduction by Mr Saintsbury to Scherer's Essays on English Literature (1891). Scherer's chief works are Mélanges de Critique Religieuse; De l'Etat actuel de l'Église Réformée en France; Alexandre Vinet et ses Ecrits; Études Critiques sur la Littérature Contemporaine (9 vols.); Mélange d'Histoire Religieuse; Melchior Grimm.