BRYANT, JACOB (1715-1804)

—Scholar, ed. at Eton and Camb., wrote learnedly, but paradoxically, on mythological and Homeric subjects. His chief works were A New System or Analysis of Ancient Mythology (1774-76), Observations on the Plain of Troy (1795), and Di ertation concerning the Wars of Troy (1796). In the last two he endeavoured to show that the existence of Troy and the Greek expedition were fabulous. Though so sceptical on these points he was an implicit believer in the authenticity of the Rowley authorship of Chatter ton's fabrications. He also wrote on theological subjects .