Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Barbier, Henri Auguste
BARBIER, Henri Auguste, a French poet, born at Paris, April 28, 1805, was bred to the law, but, abandoning that profession for literary pursuits, he composed, conjointly with Alphonse Royer, "Les Mauvais Garçons," 1830, an historical novel, illustrative of French manners in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Revolution of July he discovered that satirical poetry was his true forte. His "Iambes" attracted much attention, and in his celebrated poem "La Curée," which first appeared in the Revue de Paris, in August, 1830, he severely lashed the seekers for office who besieged the new government. These works were followed by "Le Lion," "Quatre-vingt-treize," "Varsovie," and "La Population," in which he attacked, with great asperity and trenchant wit, the corruption of public morals, the ambition of public men, and the mania for committing suicide. In "Il Pianto," 1832, he vividly sketched the political abasement of Italy; while in "Lazare," 1833, he drew attention to the misery and social degradation of the English people. M. Barbier published, in 1837, "Erostrate" and "Pot-de-Vin," two satires which were not so favourably received as his former productions. He wrote for M. Berlioz, in conjunction with Leon de Wailly, the opera of "Benvenuto Cellini;" and he likewise composed the words of the "Hymne à la France," performed under the direction of M. Berlioz at the great festival in the Industrial Exposition of 1855. His more recent works are remarkably inferior to those produced at the outset of his career. Among them may be mentioned "Chants Civils et Religieux," 1841; "Rimes Héroiques," 1843; a metrical translation of Shakspere's "Julius Cæsar," 1848; "Silves, Poésies diverses," 1864; a collection of "Satires," 1865; a volume of tales under the title of "Trois Passions," 1867; and a translation of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," published in 1876, with illustrations by Gustave Doré. On April 29, 1869, M. Barbier was elected to the stall in the French Academy rendered vacant by the decease of M. Empis; and in 1878 he was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honour.