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 &lsquo;Schwänke&rsquo; (1792; 2d ed., 1888); &lsquo;Thomas Kellerwurm&rsquo; (1806); &lsquo;Sämmtliche Schriften&rsquo; (1835-37); &lsquo;Humoristische Gedichte,&rsquo; edited by Tittmann (1872); &lsquo;Humoristische Erzählungen&rsquo; (1891). Many of his poems enjoyed a lasting popularity as songs.