n opposition, however, to them, Mr. Bryant experienced some severe and petulant attacks: first, from a learned Dutchman, in a Latin review of his work; and shortly
His first publication was “Observations and Inquiries
relating to various parts of Ancient History: containing
Dissertations on the wind Euroclydon, and on the Island
Melite, together with an account of Egypt in its most early
state, and of the Shepherd Kings; wherein the time of
their coming, the province which they particularly possessed, and to which the Israelites afterwards succeeded, is
endeavoured to be stated. The whole calculated to throw
light on the history of that ancient kingdom, as well as on
the histories of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians,
Edomites, and other nations,
” New System or Analysis of Ancient Mythology; wherein an Attempt is made to divest Tradition
of Fable, and to reduce Truth to its original Purity.
” Of
this publication the first and second volumes came forth
together, in 1774, and the third followed two years after. It
being his professed design to present a history of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Canaanites, Helladians,
lonians, Leleges, Dorians, Pelasgi, and other ancient nations, his researches for this purpose were not only of necessity recondite, but in many instances uncertain; but to
facilitate his passage through the mighty labyrinth which
led to his primary object, he not only availed himself of
the scattered fragments of ancient history wherever he
could find them, but also of a variety of etymological aids;
for being persuaded that the human race were the offspring
of one stock, and conceiving thence that their language in
the beginning was one, this favourite notion was exemplified by him in the investigation of radical terms, and application of these as collateral aids. As his knowledge of
the oriental dialects was very confined, upon some occasions he has indulged too freely to fancy; yet his defects
in this kind of learning form a strong plea in his favour;
for if, without fully understanding these languages, he has
succeeded in tracing out so many radicals as his table of
them exhibits, and more especially if he has been right in
explaining them, it will follow that his explanations must
be founded on truth, and therefore are not chimerical. In
opposition, however, to them, Mr. Bryant experienced
some severe and petulant attacks: first, from a learned
Dutchman, in a Latin review of his work; and shortly after
from the late Mr. Richardson, who was privately assisted
by sir William Jones; a circumstance which there is reason to think Mr. Bryant never knew. Mr. Richardson, in
the preface to his Persian Dictionary, has no doubt successfully exposed some of Mr. Bryant’s etymological mistakes with regard to words of eastern origin. Bryant had
a favoyrite theory with regard to the Amonians, the original inhabitants of Kgypt^ whose name, as well as descent,
he derives from Ham, but Richardson has stated an insuperable objection to the derivation of the name, for
though the Greeks and Latins used Ammon and Hammou
indifferently, yet the Heth in Ham is a radical, not mutable
or omissible; and had the Greeks or Latins formed a word
from it, it would have been Chammon, and not Ammon,
even with the aspirate. To these and other strictures, Mr.
Bryant replied in an anonymous pamphlet, of which he
printed only a few copies for the perusal of his friends;
and that part of his work which relates to the Apamean.
medal having been particularly attacked, especially in the
Gentleman’s Magazine, he defended himself in “A Vindication of the Apamean Medal, and of the inscription
NilE, together with an illustration of another coin struck
at the same place in honour of the emperor Severus.
” This
was first published in the Archaeologia, and afterwards separately, 1775, 4to, and although what he offered on the
subject was lightly treated by some, whose knowledge in
inedallic history is allowed to be great, yet the opinion of
professor Eckhel, the first medallist of his age, is decidedly
in favour of Mr. Bryant. And whatever may be the merit,
in the opinion of the learned, of Mr. Bryant’s “New System
” at large, no person can possibly dispute, that a very
uncommon store of learning is perceptible through the
whole; that it abounds with great originality of conception, much perspicacious elucidation, and the most happy
explanations on topics of the highest importance: in a
word, that it stands forward amongst the first works of its
age.
, or, as he signs in his French letters, La Croix, a learned Dutchman, was born at Delft, about the end of the sixteenth
, or, as he signs in his French letters,
La Croix, a learned Dutchman, was born at Delft, about
the end of the sixteenth century, and was first educated
under the elder Trelcatius at Leyden, and afterwards at
Franeker, where he studied divinity, Hebrew, and Greek,
under Drusius, &c. He also read history, philosophy,
and poetry, and occasionally amused himself with writing
Latin poetry. He became pastor at Delft, the only situation he appears to have held in the church. When he
died is not mentioned by Foppen or Moreri; and the little
we know of him is gleaned from his curious volume of
miscellanies and epistolary correspondence, the best edition of which was published at Amsterdam, 1661, 12mo,
under the title of “Jacobi Crucii Mercurius Batavus, sive
epistolarum opus, monitis theologicis, ethicis, politicis,
ceconomicis, refer turn, editio aucta et recognita.
” This
work is replete with judicious remarks, and literary anecdote, and contains many letters from Rivet, Colvius,
Lanoy, Salmasius, Vossius, and other learned contemporaries. The freedom of some of Crucius’s observations procured it a place in the Index Expurgatorius, Jan. 25, 1684.
He published also “Suada Delphica, sive orationes LXIX.
varii argurnenti, ad usury studiosae juventutis,
” Amst. 1675,
12mo, and often reprinted.
, a learned Dutchman, was born in 1579 at Losdun, a town near the
, a learned Dutchman, was born
in 1579 at Losdun, a town near the Hague, where his
father was minister. At six years of age his father began
to teach him the elements of the Latin language; and the
year after sent him to a school at the Hague, where he
continued four years. He was then removed to Leyden,
and made so great a progress in literature, that at twelve
he could write with fluency in Latin. He advanced with
no less rapidity in the Greek language, for which he conceived a particular fondness; insomuch that at thirteen he
made Greek verses, and at sixteen wrote a “Commentary
upon Lycophron,
” the most obscure of all the Greek
authors. When he had finished the course of his studies,
and gained the reputation of a person from whom much
might be expected, the famous John Barnevelt intrusted
him with the education of his children; and he attended
them ten years, at home and in their travels. This gave
him an opportunity of seeing almost all the courts in Europe, of visiting the learned in their several countries, and
of examining the best libraries. As he passed through
Orleans, in 1608, he was made doctor of law. Upon his
return to Holland, the curators of the academy of Leyden
appointed him, in 1610, professor of history, and afterward of Greek; and the year following, the States of
Holland chose him for their historiographer. In 1612 he
married a lady of an ancient and good family, by whom
he had a son, called after his own name, who died in the
flower of his age, yet not till he had given specimens of
his uncommon learning, by several publications.