Dec. 31. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



€41 



only by a report in the newspapers of the day) was 

 Oldham's Poems, which, after a fire which oc- 

 curred in the school-room, was said to have been 

 the only book returned of the many which had 

 been taken away. P. H. Fisher. 



Stroud. 



In Knight's Life of Dean Colet (8vo., London, 

 1724), founder of St. Paul's School, there is a 

 catalogue of the books in the library of the school 

 at the date specified. The number of the volumes 

 is added up at the end of the catalogue, in MS., 

 and the total amount is 663 volumes. The latest 

 purchases bear the date of 1723, and are: — 

 Pierson (sic) On the Creed, Greenwood's English 

 Gramiiuxr, and Terentius In usiim Delphini. The 

 books for the most part are of a highly valuable 

 and standard character. Does the library still 

 exist ? have many additions been made to it up 

 to the present time ? and is there a printed cata- 

 logue of it ? J. M. 



Oxford. 



TRENCH ON PROVERBS. 



(Vol.viii., pp. 387. 519.) 



The error, which Luther was the first to fall into, 

 in departing from the anciently received version 

 of Ps. cxxvii. 2., Mendelsohn adopted; but no 

 translator of eminence has followed these two 

 Hebraists ; although some critics have been car- 

 ried away by their authority to the proper Jewish 

 notion of " gain," and not sleep, being the subject. 

 Luther's version — "Denn seinen Freunden gibt 

 er es schlafend" — was certainly before the re- 

 visers of our authorised version of James I. ; but 

 was rejected, I consider, as ungrammatical and 

 false : ungj-ammatical, because the transitive verb 

 " give " {gibi) has no accusative noun ; and false, 

 because he supplies, without authority, the place 

 of the missing noun by the pronoun "it" (es), 

 there being no antecedent to which this it refers. 

 Mendelsohn omits the it in his Hebrew comment, 

 supplied however unauthorlsedly by Mr. Margo- 

 riouTH in his translation of such comment. But 

 Mendelsohn introduces the "es" (it), in his Ger- 

 man version (Berlin, 1788, dedicated to Ramler), 

 without however any authority from the Hebrew 

 original of this Psalm. He is therefore at vari- 

 ance with himself. And, farther, he has omitted 

 altogether the important word }? (so or thus), 

 rendered " dcnn" (for) by Luther. 



As to the " unintelligible authorised version," I 

 must premise that no version has yet had so large 

 an amount of learning bestowed on it as the 

 English one ; indeed it has fairly beaten out of 

 the field all the versions of all other sections of 

 Christians. The difficulty of the English version 

 arises from its close adherence to the oriental 



letter ; but if we put the scope of this Psalm into 

 the vernacular, such difficulty is eliminated. 



Solomon says, in this Psalm : " Without Je- 

 hovah's support, my house will fall : if He keep 

 this city, the watch, with its early-risings, late- 

 resting, and ill-feeding, is useless : thus He (by so 

 keeping or watching the city himself) gives sleep 

 to him whom He loves." The remainder of the 

 Psalm refers to the increase of population as 

 Jehovah's gift, wherein Solomon considers the 

 strength of the city to consist. The woi-ds in 

 Italics correspond precisely in sense witii those of 

 the authorised version — "JPo?' so He giveth Hia 

 beloved sleep;" and the latter is supported fully 

 by all the ancient versions, and, as far as I can at 

 present ascertain, by all the best modern ones. 



T. J. BucKTOir. 



Lichfield. 



"What is there unintelligible in the authorised 

 translation of Psalm cxxvii. 2., " He giveth His 

 beloved sleep ? " It is a literal translation of 

 three very plain words, of the simplest gram- 

 matical construction, made in accordance with all 

 the ancient versions. A difficulty there does in- 

 deed exist in the passage, viz. in the commencing 

 word p ; but this word, though capable of many 

 intelligible meanings, does not enter into the pre- 

 sent question. Since the great majority of critics 

 have been contented to see no objection to the 

 received translations, it is perfectly allowable to 

 maintain that the proposed rendering makes, in- 

 stead of removing, a difficult)', and obscures a 

 passage which, as generally understood, is suffi- 

 ciently lucid. Hengstenberg's difficulty is, that 

 the subject is not about the sleep, but the gain. 

 But is not sleep a gain ? Can we forget the 

 vTTvov Supov of Homer ? that is, sufficient, undis- 

 turbed sleep, rest. Hengstenberg's remark, that 

 all, even the beloved, must labour, is a mere 

 truism. The Psalmist evidently opposes exces- 

 sive and over-anxious labours, interfering witli 

 natural rest, to ordinary labour accompanied with 

 refreshing sleep. The object of his censure is 

 precisely the /xipifiva, which forms the subject of 

 our Lord's warning ; who censures not due care 

 and providence, but over-anxiety. Burkius rightly 

 remarks, that m^ is antithetical to surgere, se- 

 dere, dolonim, Hammond observes, with far more 

 clearness and good sense than Hengstenberg, 



" For as to the former of these, wicked men that in- 

 cessantly moil, and cark, and drudge for the acquirhig 

 of it, and never enjoy any of the comforts of this life, 

 through the vehement pursuit of riches, are generally 

 frustrated and disappointed in their aims: wliereas, on 

 the contrary, those who have God's blessing thrive in- 

 sensibly, become very prosperous, and yet never lose any 

 sleep in the pursuit of it,'^ 



Bishop Home agrees ; his remarks having evi- 

 dent reference to Hammond's. So Bishop Hors- 



