Dutch poet and playwright, born at Haarlem on the 25th of July 1683. His father died while the boy was a child, and his mother moved to The Hague, and supported herself and him by keeping a shop. He became a designer of damask, moved to Amsterdam and went to work at this occupation in a linen factory. Here appeared his first comedies: Don Quixote (1711); The Braggart (1712); and The Mutual Marriage Deception (1712). In 1715 he published Krelis Louwen and the Mathematicians, and in 1720 Arlequijn Actionist. In 1722 he returned to Haarlem, and for about twenty years nothing appeared from his pen. Among his later plays are Xantippe, which, it is said, was suggested by his own unfortunate matrimonial venture; Papirius; and A Mirror of Our Merchants, which was left incomplete. Although, to a certain extent, under the domination of French taste, Langendijk’s comedies possess considerable originality and vigor, and some of them are acted still on the Dutch stage. His collected works were published in 1760. He died in 1756.
