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classed as above; and 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 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 Whitaker in an expensive form. In 1842 Mr Thomas Wright printed an edition from an excellent MS. of the B-text in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge (second edition, 1856). A complete edition of all three texts was undertaken, for the Early English Text Society, by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, but is not yet finished (1881). Vols. i., ii., and iii., containing the three texts, and the poem of Richard the Redeles, appeared in 1866, 1869, and 1873 respectively, and a part of vol. iv., containing full notes to all three texts, with some indexes, in 1877.
The general contents of the poem may be inferred from a brief description of the latest text. This is divided into _twenty-three passus, nominally comprising four parts, called respectively Visio de Petro Plowman, Visio de Do-wel, Visio de Do-bet, and Visio de Do-best. Here Do-bet signifies "do better" in modern English; and the author's own explanation of the names is that he who does a kind action does well, he who teaches others to act kindly does better, but he who combines both practice and theory, both doing good himself and teaching others to do the same, does best. But the visions by no means closely correspond to these descriptions; the poet really gives us a set of eleven visions, which may be thus enumerated: – (1) Vision of the Field Full of Folk, of Holy Church, and of the Lady Meed (passus i.-v.); (2) Vision of the Seven Deadly Sins, and of Piers the Plowman (pass. vi.-x.); (3) Wit, Study, Clergy, and Scripture (pass. xi., xii.); (4) Fortune, Nature, Recklessness, and Reason (pass. xiii., xiv.); (5) Vision of Imaginative (pass. xv.); (6) Conscience, Patience, and Activa-Vita (pass. xvi., xvii.); (7) Free-will, and the Tree of Charity (pass. xviii., xix.); (8) Faith, Hope, and Charity (pass. xx.); (9) The Triumph of Piers the Plowman, i.e., the Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (pass. xxi.); (10) The Vision of Grace (pass. xxii.); (11) The Vision of Antichrist (pass. xxiii.).
This bare outline gives but little idea of the real nature of the poem. The general plan of it is slight and somewhat vague, but the execution is vivid and remarkable. The, author's object was to afford himself opportunities by the way (of which he has amply availed himself) of describing the life and manners of the poorer classes; of inveighing against clerical abuses and the rapacity of the friars; of representing the miseries caused by the great pestilences then prevalent and by the hasty and ill-advised marriages consequent thereupon; and of denouncing lazy workmen and sham beggars, the corruption and bribery then too common in the law-courts, and all the numerous forms of falsehood which are at all times the fit subjects for satire and indignant exposure. In describing, for example, the seven deadly sins, he gives so exact a description of Glutton and Sloth that the readers feel that these are no mere abstractions, but drawn from the life, and it becomes hardly more difficult to realize Glutton than it is to realize Sir John Falstaff. The numerous allegorical personages so frequently introduced, such as Scripture, Clergy, Conscience, Patience, and the like, are all mouthpieces of the author himself, uttering for the most part his own sentiments, but sometimes speaking in accordance with the character which each is supposed to represent. The theological disquisitions which are occasionally introduced are somewhat dull and tedious, but the earnestness of the author's purpose and his energy of language tend to relieve them, and there are not many passages which might have been omitted without loss. The poem is essentially one of those which improve on a second reading, and as a linguistic monument it is of very high value. Mere extracts from the poem, even if rather numerous and of some length, fail to give a fair idea of it. The whole deserves, and will repay, a careful study; indeed, there are not many single works from which a student of English literature and of the English language may derive more substantial benefit.
The metre is alliterative, and destitute of final rhyme. It is not very regular, as the author's earnestness led him to use the fittest words rather than those which merely served the purpose of rhythm. The chief rule is that, in general, the same letter or combination of letters should begin three emphatic syllables in the same line, as, for example, in the line which may be modernized thus: "Of all manner of men, the mean and the rich." Sometimes there are but two such rhyme-letters, as: "Might of the commons made him to reign." Sometimes there are four, as: "In a summer season, when soft was the sun." There is invariably a pause, more or less distinct, in the middle of each line.
See the editions already referred to; The Deposition of Richard II., ed. T. Wright (Camden Society), which is the same poem as Richard the Redeles; Warton, Hist. of Eng. Poetry; Milman, Hist. of Latin Christianity; Marsh, Lectures on English; H. Morley, English Writers, &c. A long and careful summary of the whole poem Is given in Illustrations of English Religion, by H. Morley, ch. iii. (W. W. S.)
LANGRES, a town in the department of Haute-Marne, France, 186 miles south-east from Paris, stands at a height of some 1550 feet, upon a jutting promontory of the tableland to which it gives its name (Plateau de Langres), and overlooks, eastward and westward respectively, the valleys of the Marne and its tributary the Bonnelle. Its situation involves a rigorous climate, but also gives it strategic importance. The citadel stands to the south of the town, where it joins the table-land. From the ramparts and the cathedral tower there is an extensive view over the valley of the Marne, the Vosges, and the Côte d'Or; and in clear weather Mont Blanc (160 miles distant) is visible. Several detached forts and numerous batteries make Langres one of the strongest fortified camps of the country. The cathedral, the choir and nave of which date from the 12th and 13th centuries, possesses some fine features, but has been debased by a front in the style of the 17th century. The church of St Martin possesses a Christ, which is one of the finest wood-carvings known. The Gallo-Roman gate, one of four entrances to the town in the time of the Romans, is conjectured to have been intended as a triumphal arch to some victorious emperor, perhaps Marcus Aurelius. The gate "des moulins" is now the most noteworthy in the town. Langres possesses an antiquarian museum and a rather important library, as well as a picture gallery. The cutlery which bears the name of Langres is manufactured in the neighbourhood. Population, 10,375.
The town takes its name from the Lingones, who occupied it in the time of Cæsar. Under the Capets its bishop was an ecclesiastical peer of the kingdom, and held the sceptre at royal coronations.
LANGTON, Stephen (c. 1150-1228), cardinal, forty-fourth archbishop of Canterbury, was born about the middle of the 12th century; the place of his birth is unknown, but his family almost certainly belonged to Yorkshire. He had already been made a prebendary of York, most probably at an early age, when he went to France and entered the university of Paris; there he soon rose to distinction alike in philosophy and theology, and ultimately, it is said, became chancellor or at least attained high rank in the governing body. One of his fellow students and intimate friends in Paris was Lothario, the nephew of Clement III., who when he in 1198 succeeded Celestine III. as Innocent III. forthwith appointed Langton to a post in his household. In 1206 he became cardinal priest of St Chrysogonus, a promotion on which he received the written congratulations of his sovereign King John. It was shortly after this that he first became involved in the great constitutional struggles with which his name is so honourably associated. In 1205 Hubert Walter of Canterbury had died, and there were urged at Rome the claims of two rival candidates for the vacant see, Reginald the subprior of Christ Church, Canterbury, who had been the sudden and unauthorized choice of a majority of the monks, and John de Gray, bishop of Norwich, whom the dissenting minority had subsequently elected with the royal sanction. Setting aside both claims, and also the appeal of the suffragans of Canterbury with the chapter, who maintained that the right of election was theirs, Innocent commanded the monks then present in Rome to proceed to a new election in his presence, Langton being the candidate set before them. Elected he accordingly was, and afterwards consecrated by the pope himself at Viterbo in June 1207. John immediately retaliated by banishing the monks of Canterbury, afterwards writing an angry and threatening letter to the pope. Innocent replied with firmness, but, finding John immovable, ultimately declared his resolution to enforce submission to his will by laying England under an interdict, a resolution which was carried into effect in March 1208. For the next few years, all negotiations for his admission to his see having failed, Langton had his
