(c.1716 - 38) of Abernantbychan, Card., s. of John Langton of Westminster; Magd. Oxf. 1731; L.Inn 1731; d. Rome.
1737 - 8 [dep. Dover 3 Apr. 1737] Turin (10 - 19 Oct. 1737), Genoa (23 Oct. - 30 Nov.), Pisa (2 - 3 Dec.), Leghorn (3 - 4 Dec.), Florence (5 Dec. 1737 - 26 Feb. 1738), Lucca (27 - 8 Feb.), Siena (28 Feb. - 2 Mar.), Rome (4 Mar. - 28 Apr.), Naples (29 Apr. - 17 May), Rome (18 May - 10 Jun.), Naples (12 Jun. - ), Rome ( - d. 2 Sep.)
Langton spent a year in Italy which ended with his death in Rome on 2 September 1738.1 An unpretentious young country squire from Brecon, his travelling companions were a Mr Herbert and a Mr Pryse, and they were later joined by a Mr Breedon and a Mr Lucas. After travelling through France they came to Italy in October 1737, the crossing of Mont Cenis being 'easy & agreable, ye Rudeness & Steepness of our Road [serving] only to fill ye mind wth a pleasing Horrour' (10 Oct.). Such composure is typical of Langton's diary (Langton Jnl.), which provides his itinerary and is filled with scrupulous observation. He was critical of previous accounts of Italy, Breval's requiring too much 'Patience & Leisure', and Addison's being 'superficial & incorrect'. Yet he admitted that the Duke of Savoy's collection in Turin was the first 'Collection of ys kind I ever pd any Attention to in my Life' (10 Oct.) and he left the journal unattended for two months in Rome and three weeks in Naples.
Langton was not impressed by a 'Foolish Function' in Genoa for the canonisation of St Catherine of Genoa, and thought that the 'Common People of ys Country have an astonishing Degree of Brutality'. He had been much harrassed by postillions, inn-keepers and coaching accidents. Late in December in Florence, Herbert, Breedon and Lucas left him for Rome, while he stayed on 'not satisfy'd with so small a view of ye Beauties of ys City'. His journal ends with Langton returning alone to Naples on 12 June 1738. George Sinclair had seen him in Rome on 8 March,2 and on Langton's tomb in the Protestant cemetery in Rome there appear the names of Lancelot Allgood and Edwin Lascelles, doubtless the companions of his final days.
1. Nylander 246. 2. Sinclair jnl.MSS.