The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Langbein, August Friedrich Ernst

LANGBEIN, läng'bīn, August Friedrich Ernst, German humorist: b. Radeburg near Dresden, 6 Sept. 1757; d. Berlin, 2 Jan. 1835. He was educated for the law at Leipzig and engaged in practice in Dresden until 1800 when he went to Berlin to enter upon a literary career. Both his verse and prose are of a rollicking humorous cast and were widely popular. He wrote ‘Schwänke’ (1792; 2d ed., 1888); ‘Thomas Kellerwurm’ (1806); ‘Sämmtliche Schriften’ (1835-37); ‘Humoristische Gedichte,’ edited by Tittmann (1872); ‘Humoristische Erzählungen’ (1891). Many of his poems enjoyed a lasting popularity as songs.