master of St. Paul's School, where, as at Gloucester, he educated many who were afterwards serviceable in church and state. In recognition of his scholastic attainments he was appointed by a parliamentary order of 20 June 1643 one of the licensers of the press for 'books of philosophy, history, poetry, morality, and arts,' but appears by a petition (of 20 Dec. 1643) from the stationers and printers of London to have been latterly remiss in the performance of his duties. Having been sworn at the lords' bar on 12 Jan. 1644, Langley appeared on 6 June following as a witness before the lords' committees appointed to take examinations in the cause of Archbishop Laud, and deposed to sundry innovations in the conduct of the cathedral services introduced by Laud when dean of Gloucester.
Langley was not only an able schoolmaster, but a general scholar, an excellent theologian of the puritan stamp, and a distinguished antiquary. Fuller calls him the 'able and religious schoolmaster.' He was highly esteemed by Selden and other learned men.
He published: 'Totius Rhetoricæ Adumbratio in usum Paulinæ Scholæ,' 1664, 2nd edit. Cambridge, 1650, and an 'Introduction to Grammar,' 'several times printed.' Wood credits him with a translation of Polydore Vergil's 'De Inventoribus Rerum,' and implies that this translation was new. The only edition which bears Langley's name is that of 1663, and it cannot claim to be a new translation, or even a new edition. It is simply the remainder, with a new title-page, of the 1659 edition, which is itself a reprint of that of 1546, the work of Thomas Langley [q. v.], canon of Winchester.
Langley died unmarried at his house in St. Paul's Churchyard on 13 Sept. 1657, and was buried on 21 Sept. in Mercers' Chapel, when a funeral sermon, subsequently printed (on Acts vii. 22), touching the 'Use of Human Learning,' was preached by his friend Dr. Edward Reynolds, sometime dean of Christ Church, and afterwards bishop of Norwich. The preacher warmly eulogises Langley's learning and character, and states that they accepted his recommendation of Samuel Cromleholme [q. v.] as his successor at St. Paul's. His will bears date 9 Sept. 1657, and was proved on 29 Sept. following (Reg. in P. C. C. 343, Ruthen).
He is not to be confounded with John Langley, M.A., instituted to the rectory of West Tytherley or Tuderley, Hampshire, on 24 July 1641, and nominated a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines by a parliamentary order of 12 June 1643 (Lords' Journals, vi. 93).
[Foster's Alumni Oxonienses, 1st ser. p. 373; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 434; Knight's Life of Dr. Colet, 1734, p. 379; Prynne's Canterburies Doome, 1645, p. 75; Fuller's Church Hist. of Britain, 1655, pt. v. p. 168; Hist. of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud, 1695, p. 232; Stow's Survey, ed. Strype, 1729, pt. i. p. 168; Gardiner's Reg. St. Paul's School, p. 41; Professor John Ferguson's Bibliographical Notes on the English translation of Polydore Vergil's De Inventoribus Rerum, p. 30; Lords' Journals, vi. 377; Commons' Journals, iii. 139; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644, p. 4; Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 67; Mercers' Company Minute-book; transcript of Mercers' Chapel Rag. at Somerset House.]
LANGLEY, THOMAS (fl. 1320?), writer on poetry, was a monk of S. Benet Hulme, Norfolk, and author of 'Liber de Varietate carminum in capitulis xviii distinctus cum prologo.' Ten chapters are preserved in Digby MS. 100, f. 178, at the Bodleian Library. The prologue consists of an epigram beginning 'Dudum conflictu vexatus rithimachie,' which seems to be Bale's only authority for ascribing to Langley a book of epigrams. The treatise is dedicated to a bishop of Norwich, but in the Digby MS., which is evidently a copy and not the original, the bishop's name is omitted. Tanner gives the bishop's name as John, and Langley's date as 1430, which would suit John Wakeryng, who was bishop from 1416 to 1426. But the Digby copy is probably not much later than 1400, and if the bishop's name was really John, John Salmon must be meant, who was bishop from 1299 to 1335.
[Bale. xi. 43; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 465; Cat. of Digby MSS.; information kindly supplied by F. Madan, seq., of the Bodleian Library.]
LANGLEY or LONGLEY, THOMAS (d. 1437), bishop of Durham, cardinal, and chancellor, is said to have been second son of Thomas Langley of Langley, Yorkshire (Dugdale, Visit. of Yorkshire, Surtees Soc., p. 300). He was educated at Cambridge, and was in his youth attached to the family of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster [q. v.] The accession of Henry IV insured his promotion; in 1400 he was a canon of York, and on 20 July 1401 was made dean of York. In 1403 he was keeper of the privy seal. Bishop Henry Beaufort [q. v.] having resigned the chancellorship, the great seal was committed to Langley on or about 28 Feb. 1405, and on 8 Aug. he was elected by the chapter of York to the archbishopric, then vacant by the execution of Scrope on 8 June. The king wrote to Innocent VII recommending Langley, but the pope was offended at the execution of
