LAN 
was diftributed among the poor of the parifh ; fpinnlng* 
rooms; an excellent and well-cultivated garden ; a noble 
difpenfary, &c. The exnetife of this eltablifliment was 
imrnenfe. It exhaufted his whole revenue ; an inheritance 
which came to him on the death of the baron de Montigni 
his brother; and the revenue of the abbey of Bernay, to 
which he had been prefented by the king. 
M. Languet’s benevolent exertions, however, were not 
confined to the objects hitherto fpecified, but extended to 
the poor and wretched of every defciiption. No perfon 
was ever more aftiveand fuccefsfu! than himfelfin obtain¬ 
ing large alms and confiderable legacies, which he diftri¬ 
buted with admirable prudence and difcretion. He took 
care to be accurately informed, whether the legacies which 
were left to him were prejudicial to any poor relations of 
the teftator.; and, when he found that to be the cafe, he 
not only returned the legacies, but, when it appeared to 
be neceilary, added to them out of the funds which he 
collected. A linking inftance of the regard which he 
paid to equity and propriety in this refpeft, was evinced 
in the cafe of madame de Cavois, as illuftrious for her be¬ 
nevolence as for her birth, who left him a legacy of more 
than fix hundred thoufand livres. Of this large fum he 
took only thirty thoufand livres for the poor, and return¬ 
ed the remainder to her relations. It is laid, on good au¬ 
thority, that he dilburfed about a million of livres in cha¬ 
rities every year. Noble families reduced to poverty were 
among the prime objects of his benevolent attention ; and 
it has been related, by a perfon worthy of credit, that 
there were fomc families of diftinftion in his parifh, to 
each of whom he made annual allowances to the amount 
of fifty thoufand livres. At the time of the great dearth, 
in 1725, in order that he might relieve the poor, he fold 
his houfehold furniture, his pictures, and curious and 
rare pieces of workmanfhip, which he had with much 
trouble and difficulty collected ; and had afterwards only 
three pieces of plate, and a plain ferge bed, which ma¬ 
dame de Camois would only lend him, becaufe he had 
fold every article of which fhe had made him a prefent. 
His charity was not confined to his own parifh. When 
the plague raged at Marfeilles, he fent confiderable fums 
j )f money into Provence, to affift the fufferers under that 
dreadful malady ; and he was inceffantly zealous and ac¬ 
tive in promoting the arts, and every ufeful defign which 
could contribute to the glory of the nation. He was 
among the fil'd to be prefent at fires, or any other feene 
of public calamity, where his prudence, felf-poffelfion, 
and univerfally-refpedted character, rendered his advice 
and exertions effentially ferviceable. He had a wonder¬ 
ful talent at difeovering the different difpofitions of man¬ 
kind ; and he knew well how to employ every perfon ac¬ 
cording to his ability or capacity. In the moft intricate 
and*complicate affairs, on which he was daily confulted, 
he would give his opinion with uncommon promptnefs, 
and with a degree of fagacity and judgment that afionifh- 
ed every one. M. Languet fteadily refufed the bifhopric 
of Conferans, that of Orleans, and feveral others which 
were offered him by Louis XIV. and Louis XV. under the 
adminiftrations of the duke of Orleans and cardinal Fleury. 
In the year 1648, he refignea his living of St. Sulpice; 
but continued to preach in the church every Sunday un¬ 
til his death, which took place at the abbey of Bernay, 
in 1750, when he was about the age of feventy-five. His 
piety, and continued application to works of benevolence 
and charity, did not prevent him from being a lively and 
cheerful companion. He poffefied a fine genius, and 
would often delight the parties in which he mixed, by 
his fallies of wit, and his agreeable delicate repartees. 
LANGUE'T (John-Jofeph), younger brother of the 
preceding, was born at Dijon in 1667, and rofe to confi¬ 
derable rank in the Gallican church. He was educated 
in the college of Navarre, at Paris, of which he became 
fuperior; was appointed abbot of Coetmaloen in 1709, 
and of St. Juft in 1723 ; was made almoner to the dau- 
phinefs dowager, admitted doctor of the Sorbonne, and. 
LAN £07 
in 1715, nominated bifhop of Soiffons; was elebled a 
member of the French academy in 1715; .and, in 1723, 
promoted to the archbifhopric of Sens. He died at that 
place in 1753, about feventy-fix years of age. He took 
a diftinguilhed part as a controverfialift, in defence of the 
bull unigenitus, and difplayed much learning and acute- 
nefs in his polemical pieces, which were tranfiated into 
Latin, and printed at Dijon, in 1733, in two vols. folio ; 
but fupprefied by an order of council. Pie was alfo the 
author of A Tranflation of the Book of Pliilms, 121110. 
and of feveral Difcourfes, publiftied in the collections of 
the French academy. To him has alfo been attributed. 
The Life of Mary Alacoque, 4to. 17295 which, if not 
really his production, was patronifecl by him, and affords 
evidence, that his piety was not unmixed with an abun¬ 
dant portion of credulity and enthufiafm. Moreri. 
LAN'GUID, adj. [languidus, Lat.] Faint; weak ; fee¬ 
ble.—No fpace can be alligned fo vaft, but Hill a larger 
may be imagined ; no motion fo fwift or languid, but a 
greater velocity or flownefs may Hill be conceived. Bentley. 
—Dull; heartlefs : 
I’ll haften to my troops, 
And fire their languid fouls with Cato’s virtue. Addifon » 
LANGUIDIC', a town of France, in the department 
of the Morbihan : three miles north-eaft of Hennebon. 
LAN'GUIDLY, adv. Weakly; feebly.—The men- 
ftruum worked as languidly upon the coral as it did before. 
Boyle. 
LAN'GUIDNESS, f. Weaknefs; feeblenefs; want of 
ftrength. 
LANGUIF'ICAL, adj. [from the Lat. languor , faint- 
nefs, and facio, to make.] Caufing languor. Cole. 
To LAN'GUISH, v. n. [ languir , French ; langueo, Lat.] 
To grow feeble; to pine away; to lole ftrength.—-We 
and our fathers do languifh of inch difeafes. 2 Efdras. 
His forrows bore him off; and foftly laid 
His langutJJCd limbs upon his homely bed. Dryden. 
To be no longer vigorous in motion ; not to be vivid 
in appearance: 
The troops, with hate infpir’d, 
Their darts with clamour at a diitance drive, 
And only keep the languijh'd war alive. Dryden. 
To fink or pine under forrow, or any flow paffion.—= 
Let Leonora confider, that, at the very time in which file 
langui/hes for the lofs of her lover, there are perions juft pe- 
rifliing in a lhipwreck. Spectator. 
I have been talking with a fuitor here, 
A man that languijhes in your difpleafure. Shakefpeare. 
To look with loftnefs or tendernefs : 
What poems think you foft, and to be read 
With langui/hing regards, and bending head ? Dryden. 
LAN'GUISH, /. Soft appearance.—And the blue lan- 
guijh of foft Allia’s eye. Pope. 
Then forth he walks, 
Beneath the trembling langui/li of her beam, 
With foften’d foul, T/iompJ'on's Sprint. 
LAN'GUISHING, f. The ad or ftate of growing 
weaker. 
L AN'GU ISHINGLY, adv. Weakly, feebly ; with fee¬ 
ble foftnefs : 
Leave fuch to tune their own dull rhymes, and know 
What’s roundly fmooth, or languifhingly flow. Pope. 
Dully; tedioufly.—Alas! my Dorus, thou feeft how 
long and languifhingly the weeks are paft over fince our 
laft talking. Sidney. 
LAN'GUISHMENT, f. State of pining;. 
By that count which lovers books invent. 
The fphere of Cupid forty years contains . 
Which I have wafted in long Idnguifhmcnt, 
That feern’d the longer for rny greater pains. Spcnfer. 
Softnefs- 
