LANGHOLM, a burgh of barony and police burgh of Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 3142. It is situated on both sides of the Esk, 16 m. N.E. of Annan, the terminus of a branch line connecting with the North British railway system at Riddings Junction. The Esk is crossed by a three-arched stone bridge, uniting the old town on the left bank with the new on the right, and a suspension bridge. Ewes Water, which falls into the river, is spanned by a two-arched bridge, 1 m. N. of the town. The public buildings include the town hall—a substantial edifice with a tower rising in three tiers from the body of the structure, the Telford library, and the Hope hospital for aged poor. Already famous for its plaids and blankets, the prosperity of the burgh advanced when it took up the manufacture of tweeds. Distilling, brewing, dyeing and tanning are also important industries. The Esk and Liddel being favourite fishing streams, Langholm is the headquarters of the association which protects the rights of anglers. About 1 m. to the N.W. stands Langholm Lodge, a seat of the duke of Buccleuch, and some 4 m. S.E. is Gilnockie Tower, the peel-house that belonged to Johnny Armstrong, the freebooter, who was executed by order of James V. in 1530.
LANGHORNE, JOHN (1735-1779), English poet and translator of Plutarch, was born at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland. He At first supported himself as a private tutor and schoolmaster, and, having taken orders, was appointed (1766) to the rectory of Blagdon, Somerset, where he died on the 1st of April 1779. His poems (original and translations), and sentimental tales, are now forgotten, but his translation of Plutarch’s Lives (1770), in which he had the co-operation of his elder brother William (1721-1772), is not yet superseded. It is far less vigorous than Sir Thomas North’s version (translated from Amyot) but is free from its inaccuracies. His poems were published in 1804 by his son, J. T. Langhorne, with a memoir of the author; they will also be found in R. Anderson’s Poets of Great Britain, xi. (1794) and A. Chalmers’s English Poets, xvi. (1810), with memoir. Of his poems, The Country Justice, a plea for the neglected poor, and The Fables of Flora, were the most successful; of his prose writings, The Correspondence between Theodosius and Constantia, founded on a well-known story in the Spectator (No. 164).
LANGIEWICZ, MARYAN (1827-1887), Polish patriot, was born at Krotoszyn, in the province of Posen, on the 5th of August 1827, his father being the local doctor. Langiewicz was educated at Posen, Breslau and Prague, and was compelled to earn his daily bread by giving lectures. He subsequently entered the Prussian Landwehr and served for a year in the royal guard. In 1860 he migrated to Paris and was for a time professor in the high school founded there by Mieroslawski. The same year he took part in Garibaldi’s Neapolitan campaign, and was then a professor in the military school at Cuneo till the establishment was closed. In 1862 he entered into communication with the central Polish committee at Warsaw, and on the outbreak of the insurrection of the 22nd of January 1863, took the command of the armed bands. He defeated the Russians at Wachock and Slupia (February), capturing 1000 muskets and 8 cannon. This victory drew hundreds of young recruits to his standard, till at last he had 12,000 men at his disposal. On the 23rd of February he again defeated the Russians, at Malogoszcza, and captured 500 muskets and 2 cannon. On the 10th of March he proclaimed himself dictator and attempted to form a regular government; but either he had insufficient organizing talent, or had not time enough to carry out his plans, and after a fresh series of engagements his army was almost annihilated at Zagosc (18th of March), whereupon he took refuge in Austrian territory and was interned at Tarnow. He was subsequently transferred to the fortress of Josephstadt, from which he was released in 1865. He then lived at Solothurn as a citizen of the Swiss Republic, and subsequently entered the Turkish service as Langie Bey. He died at Constantinople on the 11th of May 1887.
See Boleslaw Limanowski, The National Insurrection of 1863-64 (Pol.) (Lemberg, 1900); Paolo Mazzoleni, I Bergamaschi in Polonia nel 1863 (Bergamo, 1893); W. H. Bavink, De Poolsche opstand 1863, &c. (Haarlem, 1864).
LANGLAND, WILLIAM (c. 1332-c. 1400), the supposed English poet, generally regarded until recently as the single author of the remarkable 14th-century poem Piers the Plowman. Its full title is—The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, together with Vita de Do-wel, Do-bet, et Do-best, secundum Wit et Resoun; usually given in Latin as Visio Willelmi de Petra Plowman, &c.; the whole work being sometimes briefly described as Liber de Petro Plowman. We know nothing of William Langland except from the supposed evidence of the MSS. of the poem and the text itself, and it will be convenient first to give a brief general description of them.
The poem exists in three forms. If we denote these by the names of A-text (or Vernon), B-text (or Crowley), and C-text (or Whitaker), we find, of the first, ten MSS., of the second fourteen, and of the third seventeen, besides seven others of a mixed type. It will be seen that we thus have abundance of material, a circumstance which proves the great popularity of the poem in former times. Owing to the frequent expressions which indicate a desire for reformation in religion, it was, in the time of Edward VI., considered worthy of being printed. Three impressions of the B-text were printed by Robert Crowley in 1550; and one of these was badly reprinted by Owen Rogers in 1561. In 1813 the best MS. of the C-text was printed by Dr E. Whitaker. In 1842 Mr Thomas Wright printed an edition from an excellent MS. of the B-text in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge (2nd ed., 1856, new ed., 1895). A complete edition of all three texts was printed for the Early English Text Society as edited by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, with the addition of Richard the Redeless, and containing full notes to all three texts, with a glossary and indexes, in 1867-1885. The Clarendon Press edition, by the same editor, appeared in 1886.
The A-text contains a prologue and 12 passus or cantos (i.-iv., the vision of the Lady Meed; v.-viii., the vision of Piers the Plowman; ix.-xii., the vision of Do-wel, Do-bet and Do-best), with 2567 lines. The B-text is much longer, containing 7242 lines, with additional passus following after xi. of A, the earlier passus being altered in various respects. The C-text, with 7357 lines, is a revision of B.