He attended the Duke of Marlborough, and his brother, Lord Charles Spencer, at Eton, as their private tutor, and proved a valuable acquisition to that illustrious house; and, what may be reckoned, at least equally fortunate, his lot fell among those who knew how to appreciate his worth, and were both able and willing to reward it. The Duke made him his private secretary, in which capacity he accompanied his Grace during his campaign on the continent, where he had the command of the British forces; and, when he was made Master-General of the Ordnance, he appointed Mr. Bryant to the office of Secretary, then about 1400l. per annum.
His general habits, in his latter years, as is commonly the case with severe students, were sedentary; and, during the last ten years of his life, he had frequent pains in his chest, occasioned by so much application, and leaning against his table to write; but, in his younger days, spent at Eton, he excelled in various athletic exercises; and, by his skill in swimming, was the happy instrument in saving the life of the venerable Dr. Barnard, afterwards Provost of Eton College. The doctor gratefully acknowledged this essential service, by embracing the first opportunity which occurred, to present the nephew of his preserver with the living of Wootton Courtney, near Minehead, in Somerset; a presentation belonging to the Provost of Eton, in right of his office.
Mr. Bryant was never married. He commonly rose at half past seven, shaved himself without a glass, was seldom a quarter of an hour in dressing, at nine rung for his breakfast, which was abstemious, and generally visited his friends at Eton and Windsor, between breakfast and dinner, which was formerly at two, but afterwards at four o'clock. He was particularly fond of dogs, and was known to have thirteen spaniels at one time: he once very narrowly escaped drowning, through his over eagerness in putting them into the water.
Our author must be considered as highly distinguished, beyond the common lot of mortality, with the temporal blessings of comforts, honour, and long life. With respect to the first of these, he enjoyed 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.