A New System | Page 2

health, peace, and competence; for, besides what he derived from his
own family, the present Duke of Marlborough, after his father's death,

settled an annuity on Mr. Bryant of 600 l. which he continued to
receive from that noble family till his death.
He was greatly honoured among his numerous, yet chosen friends and
acquaintance; and his company courted by all the literary characters in
his neighbourhood. His more particular intimates, in his own district,
were Doctors Barford, Barnard, Glynn, and Heberden. The venerable
Sir George Baker, he either saw or corresponded with every day;
likewise with Dr. Hallam, the father of Eton school, who had given up
the deanery of Bristol, because he chose to reside at Windsor. When he
went into Kent, the friends he usually visited were the Reverend
Archdeacon Law, Mr. Longley, Recorder of Rochester, and Dr.
Dampier, afterwards Bishop of that diocese. Besides the pecuniary
expression of esteem mentioned above, the Duke of Marlborough had
two rooms kept for him at Blenheim, with his name inscribed over the
doors; and he was the only person who was presented with the keys of
that choice library. The humble retreat of the venerable sage was
frequently visited by his Majesty; and thus he partook in the highest
honours recorded of the philosophers and sages of antiquity. Thus
loved and honoured, he attained to eighty-nine years of age, and died,
at Cypenham, near Windsor, Nov. 13, 1804, of a mortification in his
leg, originating in the seemingly slight circumstance of a rasure against
a chair, in the act of reaching a book from a shelf.
He had presented many of his most valuable books to the King in his
life-time, and his editions by Caxton to the Marquis of Blandford: the
remainder of this choice collection he bequeathed to the library of
King's College, Cambridge, where he had received his education.
He gave, by will, 2,000 l. to the society for propagating the gospel, and
1,000 l. to the superannuated collegers of Eton school, to be disposed
of as the provost and fellows should think fit. Also, 500 l. to the parish
of Farnham Royal. The poor of Cypenham and Chalvey were constant
partakers of his bounty, which was of so extensive a nature, that he
commissioned the neighbouring clergy to look out proper objects for
his beneficence.
Mr. Bryant's literary attainments were of a nature peculiar to himself;

and, in point of classical erudition he was, perhaps, without an equal in
the world. He had the very peculiar felicity of preserving his eminent
superiority of talents to the end of a very long life; the whole of which
was not only devoted to literature, but his studies were uniformly
directed to the investigation of truth. The love of truth might, indeed,
be considered as his grand characteristic, which he steadily pursued;
and this is equally true as to his motive, whether he was found on the
wrong or right side of the question. A few minutes before he expired,
he declared to his nephew, and others in the room, that "all he had
written was with a view to the promulgation of truth; and, that all he
had contended for, he himself believed." By truth, we are to understand
religious truth, his firm persuasion of the truth of Christianity; to the
investigation and establishment of which he devoted his whole life.
This was the central point, around which all his labours turned; the
ultimate object at which they aimed.
Such are the particulars we have been able to collect of this profound
scholar and antiquary. But the life of a man of letters appears, and must
be chiefly sought for in his works, of which we subjoin the following
catalogue:
The first work Mr. Bryant published was in 1767, intituled,
"Observations and Inquiries relating to various Parts of antient History;
containing Dissertations on the Wind Euroclydon, (see vol. v. p. 325.);
and on the Island Melite, (see vol. v. p. 357.), together with an Account
of Egypt in its most early State, (see vol. vi. p. 1.); and of the Shepherd
Kings." (See vol. vi. p. 105.) This publication is calculated not only to
throw light on the antient history of the kingdom of Egypt, but on the
history also of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Edomites, and
other nations. The account of the Shepherd Kings contains a statement
of the time of their coming into Egypt; of the particular province they
possessed, and, to which the Israelites afterwards succeeded. The
treatise on the Euroclydon was designed to vindicate the common
reading of Acts, xxvii. 14. in opposition to Bochart, Grotius, and
Bentley, supported by the authority of the Alexandrine M.S. and the
Vulgate, who thought EUROAQUILO more agreeable to the truth.

His grand work, called, "A New System, or, an