8. Some remarks. which had been made on parti cular passages of Mr Bryant's work, led him to pub lish A Vindication of the Apamean Medal ; of the inscription 1•1112 ; and of another coin, in the Ar chaeologia, Vol. IV. Art. 21, 22, 23. 4. He de viated somewhat more widely from the usual objects of his researches, and apparently without any very de . cided advantage Over his adversary, in An Address to Dr Priestley, on the doctrine of philosophical neces sity, 8vo, 1780. 5. He also published in the same year Vsndicise Flaoienre, or a vindication of the testimony given by Josephus concerning our Saviour, 8vo.
6. Unfortunately for the credit of his critical dis crimination in matters of old English literature, Mr Bryant was the author of Observations on the Poems V Thomas Rowley, in which the authenticity of these poems is ascertained, 2 vols. 12mo, 1781. If there could be any excuse for the commission of forgeries Like that of Chatterton, it would be found in their serving as a valuable test of the defree of confi dence, which it is justifiable to place, in the decrees of the moat powerful critics, respecting other clues. Lions of a more ambiguous nature.
7. Mr Bryant contributed to the publication of the Duke of Maniborough's Collection of Gems, the Latin explanations contained in the first volume, fol. 1783. 8. He inserted in the Archaeologia, vu. 887, some Collections on the Zingora or Gipsey Lan guage; which has been since sufficiently proved to be one of the many derivatives of the old Sanscrit.
9. Sometime afterwards, he published an anony mous Treatise on the Authenticity of the Scriptures, and the truth of the Christian religion, 1792. 10. This was succeeded by his Observations upon the Plagues inflicted 'upon the Egyptians, 8vo, 1794.
11. His opinions respecting the existence of the city of Troy, and the veracity of Homer as a his. torian, raised up against him a host of powerful ad versaries ; and in a question of this nature, upon which the decisions of mankind are so manifestly influenced by their sensibility to poetical beauty, and their early habits and attachments, a much more cautious attempt to innovate might easily have been unsuc cenful, Whatever learning and talent' may have been exhibited in this controversy, it will hardly be believed by an impartial judge, reasoning on the neral probabilities of the case, that Homer intended the actions of his heroes, any mere than their gene elegies, to be historically correct ; but, at the same time, it will readily-be admitted, that be was much more likely to take, for the scene of his poem, a town that had really existed, and, for its subject, a traditional report of a war which had actually been carried on, than to have invented a fabulous city and an imaginary warfare, without any historical founda tion whatever. Mr Bryant published on this sub
ject Observations on a Treatise, entitled, Description gf the Plain of Troy, by Mr de Chevalier, 4to, 1795. 12. A Dissertation concerning the War of Troy, and the expedition of the Greeks, as described by Ho mer ; showing that no such expedition was ever On dertaken, and that no such city in Phrygia existed, 4to, 1796. 18. Observations on the Vindication of Ho mer, written by J. B. S. Merritt, Esq. 4to, 1799.
14. He had, in the meantime, not discontinued his theological studies, and had published an Essay on The Sentiments cfPhilo Judaeus concerning the word of God, 8vo, 1797. His last work was a volume of Dissertations on "Various Subjects in the Old Tes tament, which had been nearly completed thirty years before. The subjects which had particularly attracted his attention, were the histories of Ballwin, Sampson, and Jonah ; and besides Philo Judaeua and Josephus, he bad endeavoured to illustrate some controverted passages of Justin Martyr, as well as many other departments of religious and historical discussion.