BORNIER, HENRI, VICOMTE DE (1825-1901), French poet and dramatist, was born in Lunel (Herault) on Dec. 25. 1825, and died in Paris on Jan. 28, 1901. He served for half a century in the Arsenal library, when he rose to be director in 1889. His first volume of lyrics, Premieres Feuilles, appeared in 1845, and his Poesies Completes appeared in 2894. His best known work, however, was done for the theatre, in historical plays. The most famous were Le Mariage de Luther (1845), La Fille de Roland (1875), Les Noces d'Attila (188o), Mahomet (1888). In La Fille de Roland, written in verse, he went back to the national legend of Charlemagne for his subject, and the grandiose treatment of the conflict between love and honour inevitably provoked comparison with Corneille.
See Abbe Lecigne, Henri de Bonder (i900).