148 
LAN 
botany, anatomy, the vulgar Greek, and particularly the 
oriental languages, under the celebrated Wagenfeil. In 
1687 he was admitted to the degree of M. A. and then 
went to perfect himlelf in Arabic at the univerfity of Je¬ 
na, where he delivered public lectures on ethics and na¬ 
tural theology. For feme years he officiated as paltor to 
a country church in the Palatinate; but, becoming difl'a- 
tisfied with fucli a retired life, he removed to Altdorf, 
where he was created doctor, and admitted into the aca¬ 
demical fenate in 1697. In this univerfity he was appointed 
profefTor of divinity ; with which was afterwards con¬ 
nected the office of paftor of one of the churches. It was 
not long, however, before he became involved in religious 
dilputes, which railed againft him many enemies, and ex- 
pofed him to the cenfures of the utiiverfities of Roftock 
and Tubingen. Not chufing-to fubmit to their decifion, 
ire demanded and obtained a difmiffion from bis public 
employments, and removed to Prentzlow in 1710 ; where 
he had the appointment of fuperintendant, and died in 
1731, about the age of fixty-feven. He was the author of 
various works, of which the following are held in eftima- 
rion : 1. DilTertationes Botanico-Theologicae, 4to. 1705. 
2. Pbilologia Barbaro-Grseca, 4to. 1708. 3. A Treatife 
X)e Fabulis Mohammedicis, 4to. 1697 ; and fome other 
(pieces relating to the Alcoran. Moreri. 
LAN'GA, a river of Sweden, which rifes in the pro¬ 
vince of Jamtland, and runs into the Ragunda near Lit. 
LANGANAU', a town of Auftria: four miles eaft of 
profendorf. 
LAN.GANI'CO, or Sun'ri, anciently Olympia, a town 
of the Morea, (ituated on a imall river called Carbon, the 
. ancient Alphcus, once a city of great note, near which were 
.celebrated the Olympian games, firft inftituted by Pelops, 
in honour of Jupiter, and afterwards revived by Atreus 
and Hercules. They were held every fifth year with great 
folemnity, amidft an infinite number of fpeCtators, and 
lafted for five days. From thefe fpeClacles the computa¬ 
tion of time in Greece, by Olympiads, took its rife. In 
this city, alfo, was a very fine temple of Jupiter Olympius, 
with a celebrated image of that god, fifty ells high, which 
was reckoned one of the feven wonders of the world. Near 
it was alfo a famous grove, dedicated to the lame god. It 
is at prefentaninconfiderable place: thirty-two miles fouth- 
•fouth-eaS «f Chiarenza, and fixty fouth-weft of Corinth. 
LAN'GAR, a village in Nottinghamlliire, on the Trent, 
weft of Belvoir-Caftle, near St. Aubrey and Barnefton, to 
which manors it has been always united. King John 
lodged here when rfe marched againft the barons. 
LANGAROO'D, a town of Perfia, in the province of 
Ghilan, near the fouth coaft of the Cafpian Sea, which 
gives name to a road for (hips. Here is a cove with ten 
feet water, but the entrance is narrow. The filk manu¬ 
facture here is much efteemed. It is twenty miles loutli- 
eaftofRelhd. Lat. 27. N. Ion. 50.15. E. 
LANG ASCHAN'TZ, a town of Sweden, in the pro¬ 
vince of Harjedalen : no miles fouth-weft of Sundfwall. 
LAN'GAST, a town of France, in the department of 
the North Coafts: fifteen miles fouth of St. Brieuc. 
LANGA'YA,yi in zoology, a genus of the clafs am¬ 
phibia, order ferpentes. The generic characters are— 
Plates under the neck and belly, called abdominalfeuta, as 
in the genus Coluber; inftead of the feales under the 
whole length of the tail, thole on the anterior part are ex¬ 
tended into rings, called caudal annuli ; while thole on the 
pofterior part lie underneath only, as in the vipers, and 
are called terminal fquama. We need lay no more intro¬ 
ductory to a genus of which we have only a fingle fpecies. 
Langaya Madagafcarienfis, the Madagafcar langaha. 
The fpecific character, as given by Dr. Shaw, is, “ the 
upper jaw produced in form of a fnout.” But, till other 
fptcies are dilcovered, we cannot tell hut this may he a ge¬ 
neric character. Abdominal feuta 184, caudal annuli 42. 
This ferpent appears to have been firft deferibed by 
Monf. Bruguiere, of the Royal Society of Montpellier, 
whofe account of it is infected in the Journal de Phyfique. 
LAN 
for theyear X784. The length of the individual deferibed' 
was about two feet eight inches, and its greateft diameter 
about feven lines. The head is covered with large feales, 
but the fnout, which is extremely long and lharp, pro¬ 
jecting to a confiderable diltance beyond the lower jaw, 
is covered with very finall ones; the teeth, in lliape and 
difpofition, refemble thole of a poifonous viper. The 
fcaies on the upper parts of the body are rhomboidal, of 
a reddilh colour, and each marked at the bafe by a fmall 
grey circle, with a yellow fpot in the middle. The under 
parts are pale or whitilh. The number of abdominal 
feuta, as well as of circles on the tail, is obferved to vary, 
as alfo the colour, which in one individual is violet, with 
darker-coloured fpecks on the back. The natives of Ma¬ 
dagafcar are faid to hold the langaya in great dread, confi- 
dering it as a highly poifonous ferpent. We have given 
a reprefentation of it on the Plate at p. 83, fig. 9. 
LANG'BAINE (Gerard), a learned Englilh writer, 
was born about 1608 at Barton-kirk in Weltmoreland. 
He was admitted a fervitor of Queen’s college, Oxford, 
in 1626, of which lie afterwards became a fcholar upon 
the foundation, and a fellow. He obtained the degree of 
M.A. in 1633, and of D.D. in 1646. An edition of Lon¬ 
ginus, in Greek and Latin, with notes, printed at Oxford, 
in 1636, 8vo. made him known as a fcholar. It was fol¬ 
lowed by various publications of an hiftorical and critical 
kind, difplaying at once his learning and his attachment 
to the conftitutioain church and ftate. Bifliop Nicholfon 
fpeaks of him as a perfon admirably well (killed in the an¬ 
tiquities and laws of England, and refers to his “Notable 
Difcourfe touching the State of the Times in the Reign of 
Edward VI.” prefixed to an edition of fir John Cheke’s. 
True Subject to the Rebel, Oxf. 1641. He alfo wrote An 
Examination of the Scotch Covenant; and an Englilh 
tranflation of Chemnitz’s Examination of the Council of 
Trent. He was in correfpondence with feveral learned 
men, among whom were Uftier and Selden. The univer¬ 
fity appointed him keeper of its archives in 1644, and he 
was made provoft of his college in 1645: he held both his 
offices till his death in 1658. 
LANG'BAINE (Gerard), an eminent writer, the foil 
of the former, was born in 1656. He was put appren¬ 
tice to Mr. Symonds, bookfeller in St. Paul’s churchyard } 
but was foon after called from thence by his mother upon 
the death of his eldeft brother, and by her entered a gen¬ 
tleman-commoner of Univerfity-col lege, Oxford, in 1672. 
Here he ran out a good part of his eltate; but afterwards 
corrected his manner of living, and for fome years lived 
in retirement near Oxford. During this time he improved 
his tafte for dramatic poetry; and at firft wrote fome fmall 
pieces without his name, but afterwards publilhed feveral 
works which he publicly owned. In 1690 he.was elefted 
inferior beadle of arts in the univerfity of Oxford ; and, 
in January following, was chofen fuperior beadle of law, 
but died foon after in 1692. He wrote, r. The Hunter, 
a difcourfe on horfemanfliip. 2. A New Catalogue of En- 
glifti Plays, with their belt editions, and divers remarks 
on the originals of moft plays, and on the plagiaries of fe¬ 
veral authors. 3. An Account of the Englifli Dramatic 
Poets. 4. An Appendix to a Catalogue of Oxford Gra¬ 
duates. 
LANG'BEAR, Devon, in the parifti of High-Haynton ; 
though not a market-town by our maps, is faid by Mr. 
Rifdon to have a market on Friday, and fairs on Bartho¬ 
lomew’s and Simon and Jude’s days. 
LANG'DALE, Great and Little, villages in Weftmore- 
land, weft of Amblefide, by copper-mines; with a chapel 
in the former. In this chapelry are two high hills called 
Hardknot and Wreynofe, upon the latter of which moun¬ 
tains are the Ihire-itones of Weltmoreland, Cumberland^ 
and Lancalhire. 
Between Langdale and Sunbiggin, on a rivulet called 
Raifebeck, near where it falls into the Lune, ftands Rail- 
gill-hall ; near which is a tumulus, or Britilh fepulchre, 
100 yards in circuit, and three yards high, compofed of 
loofe 
