in 1600, and often since. Langius also published an edition of "Juvenal and Persius," at Friburgh, in 1608. A "Tyrocinium Græcarum Literarum," in 1607; and a collection entitled "Adagia, sive Sententiæ proverbiales." We have no account of his personal history, unless that, after living many years in the Protestant communion, he became a Roman Catholic; but when he died is not specified.' LANGIUS (RODOLPH), a gentleman of Westphalia, and provost of the cathedral church of Munster towards the end of the fifteenth century, distinguished himself by his learning, and by his zeal for the restoration of polite literature. He went through his first studies at Deventer, and was afterwards sent into Italy, where, under the greatest masters in literature, Laurence Valla, Mapheus Vegius, Francis Philelphus, and Theodore Gaza, he acquired an elegant Latin style both in verse and prose. His fellow-travellers in this journey were Maurice count of Spiegelberg and Rodolph Agricola, who, on their return to Germany, were the first to introduce proper methods of classical teaching, and to restore the purity of the Latin language. Langius being sent to the court of Rome by the bishop and chapter of Munster, under pope Sixtus IV. acquitted himself with great credit, and came back with letters from this pope and from Lorenzo de Medici, which gave him so much consequence in the eyes of his countrymen, that he was enabled more successfully to banish from the schools the ignorance which prevailed there. He was obliged, however, to struggle some years with those who objected that the introduction of a new method of teaching was dangerous; but at length he overcame those prejudices, and persuaded his bishop to found a school at Munster, the direction of which was committed to learned men, to whom he pointed out the method they were to follow, and the books they were to explain, and gave them the use of his fine library. This school being thus established a little before the end of the fifteenth century, became very flourishing, and served as a nursery of literature to all Germany till the Revolutions which were occasioned at Munster by the anabaptists in the year 1554. Langius died in 1519, at the age of fourscore. He published some poems at Munster, 1486, 4to, by which, says Bayle, it appears Gen. Dict. Vossius de Scient. Math.-Saxii Onomast. that there were Latin poets of some reputation in Germany before Conrad Celtes. Rodolph Agricola dedicated his Latin translation of Plato's "Axiochus" to Langius.' LANGLAND. See LONGLAND. LANGRISH (BROWNE), a physician of the last century, of whom no memorial, except the present scanty one, has been preserved, distinguished himself as an advocate for the mechanical theories of physiology and medicine, and by the numerous experiments with which he supported those doctrines, which a more accurate investigation of the nature of the animal economy has exploded. Dr. Langrish, however, cannot be denied the merit of ascertaining several interesting facts with respect to the nature of the circulating powers. He died in London, Nov. 29, 1759, and left the following works: "A new essay on Muscular Motion, founded on Experiments, &c." 1733, 8vo; "Modern Theory of Physic," 1738, 8vo; Physical Experiments upon Brutes," 1745, 8vo; "Croonian Lectures on Muscular Motion," 1747, and a "Treatise on the Small-pox," 1758." LANGTOFT (PETER), an English chronicler, so called from Langtoft in Yorkshire, flourished in the thirteenth, and beginning of the fourteenth century, and was a canon regular of the order of St. Austin at Bridlington in Yorkshire. He translated out of the Latin into French verse, Bosenham or Boscam's Life of Thomas à Becket, and compiled likewise in French verse, a Chronicle of England, copies of which are in several libraries. He begun his chronicle as early as the old fable of the Trojans, and brings it down to the end of the reign of Edward I. He is supposed to have died about the beginning of Edward II. or soon after. Robert de Brunne, as we have already mentioned in his article (see BRUNNE), gave an English metrical version of Langtoft, which was edited by Hearne in 1725, 2 vols. 8vo.' LANGTON (STEPHEN), archbishop of Canterbury in the thirteenth century, a native of England, was educated at the university of Paris, where he afterwards taught divinity, and explained the Scriptures with much reputation, His character stood so high, that he was chosen chancellor of that university, canon of Paris, and dean of Rheims. 'Gen. Dict.-Saxii Onomast. 2 Rees's Cyclopædia, from Eloy. 3 Hearne's Preface.-Warton's Hist, of Poetry. He was afterwards sent for to Rome by pope Innocent III. and created a cardinal. In 1207, the monks of Canterbury having, upon a vacancy taking place in that see, made a double return, both parties appealed to the pope, and sent agents to Rome to support their respective claims. His holiness not only determined against both the contending candidates, but ordered the monks of Canterbury, then at Rome, immediately to proceed to the election of an archbishop, and, at the same time, commanded them to choose cardinal Stephen Langton. After various excuses, which the plenitude of papal power answered, by absolving these conscientious monks from all sorts of promises, oaths, &c. and by threatening them with the highest penalties of the church, they complied; and Langton was consecrated by the pope at Viterbo. As soon as the news arrived in England, king John was incensed in the highest degree both against the pope and monks of Canterbury, which last experienced the effects of his indignation. He sent two officers with a company of armed men to Canterbury, took possession of the monastery, banished the monks out of the kingdom, and seized all their property. He wrote a spirited letter to the pope, in which he accused him of injustice and presumption, in raising a stranger to the highest dignity in his kingdom, without his knowledge. He reproached the pope and court of Rome with ingratitude, in not remembering that they derived more riches from England than from all the kingdoms on this side the Alps. He assured him, that he was determined to sacrifice his life in defence of the rights of his crown; and that if his holiness did not immediately repair the injury he had done him, he would break off all communication with Rome. The pope, whom such a letter must have irritated in the highest degree, returned for answer, that if the king persisted in this dispute, he would plunge himself into inextricable difficulties, and would at length be crush ed by him, before whom every knee must bow, &c. All this may be deemed insolent and haughty, but it was not foolish. The pope knew the posture of king John's affairs at home; he knew that he had lost the affections of his subjects by his imprudence; his only miscalculation was respecting the spirit of the people; for when, which he did immediately, he laid the kingdom of England under an interdict, and two years after excommunicated the king, he was enraged to find that the great barons and their fol lowers adhered with so much steadiness to their sovereign, that, while he lay under the sentence of excommunication, he executed the only two successful expeditions of his reign, the one into Wales, and the other into Ireland; a proof that if he had continued to act with firmness, and had secured the affections of his subjects by a mild administration, he might have triumphed over all the arts of Rome. Such, however, was not the policy of John; and in the end, he submitted to the most disgraceful terms. In 1213, cardinal Langton arrived in England, and took possession of the see; and though he owed all his advance. ment to the pope, yet the moment he became an English baron, he was inspired with a zealous attachment to the liberties and independence of his country. In the very year in which he came over, he and six other bishops joined the party of the barons, who associated to resist the tyrauny of the king; and at length they were successful in procuring the great charter. Langton was equally zealous in opposing the claims of the papal agents, particularly of the pope's legate, who assumed the right of regulating all ecclesiastical affairs in the most arbitrary manner. In the grand contest which took place between king John and the barons about the charter, the archbishop's patriotic conduct gave such offence to the pope, that, in 1215, he laid him under a sentence of suspension, and reversed the election of his brother Simon Langton, who had been chosen archbishop of York. Yet in the following year we find Langton assisting at a general council held at Rome; and during his absence from England at this time, king John died. In 1222, he held a synod at Oxford, in which a remarkable canon was made, prohibiting clergymen from keeping concubines publicly in their houses, or from going to them in other places so openly as to occasion scandal. In the following year, he, at the head of the principal nobility, demanded an audience of king Henry III. and demanded of him a confirmation of the charter of their liberties. Their determined manner convinced the king that their demand was not to be refused, and he instantly gave orders for the assembling of parliament. The archbishop shewed, in several instances, that he was friendly to the legal prerogatives of the crown; and by a firm conduct, in a case of great difficulty, he prevented the calamity of a civil war. He died in 1228, leaving behind him many works, which prove that he was deserving the character of being a learned and polite author. He wrote "Commen M. la Rue, in his "Dissertation on the Lives and Works 1 Wharton's Anglia Sacra.—Cave, vol. II.-Tanner.-Dupin.-Henry's Hist. INDEX: Those marked thus * are new. Those are re-written, with additions. |