A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Barbier, Mary Ann
BARBIER, MARY ANN,
Born at Orleans, cultivated literature and poetry with much success. She settled at Paris, where she published several tragedies and some operas. It has been said that her name was only borrowed by the Abbé Pellegrin; but this is a mistake. Mademoiselle Barbier had 'talents and learning; and the Abbé Pellegrin was never anything more to her than her friend and adviser. She died in 1746. The conduct of the tragedies of Mademoiselle Barbier is tolerably regular, and the scenes well connected. The subjects are in general judiciously chosen; but nothing can be more commonplace than the manner in which she treats them. In endeavouring to render the heroines of her plays generous and noble, she degrades all her heroes. We perceive the weakness of a timid pencil, which, incapable of painting objects in large, strives to exaggerate the virtues of her sex; and these monstrous pictures produce an interest that never rises above mediocrity. Nevertheless, we meet with some affecting situations, and a natural and easy versification; but too much facility renders it negligent, diffuse, and prosaic. Her tragedies are entitled "Arria and Pœtus;" "Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi;" "Tomyris, Queen of the Mussagetes;" "The Death of Caesar;" and a comedy called "The Falcon." She also wrote three operas, which were successful.