M. Charles Huyghens, to whom the letter is addressed, was probably the father of Constantine Huyghens, the Dutch poet-politician, who was secretary and privy counsellor to the Stadtholders Frederick Henry, and William I. and II., and who, not improbably, was the son here mentioned as recommended to the protection of Sir R. Winwood, and who, at that date, would have been twenty-one years of age.
Constantine was himself the father of the still more celebrated Christian Huyghens, the astronomer and mathematician. The seal on the letter, which is in excellent preservation, is a shield bearing the following arms: 1. and 4. a cross botonné, 2. and 3. three fleurs-de-lis.
I hope that neither Mr. Trench nor his critic E. M. B. will consider me interfering by my making an observation or two on the correct rendering of the latter part of Ps. cxxvii. 2. Mr. Trench is perfectly correct by supposing an ellipsis in the sentence alluded to, and the words
should have been translated, "He will give to his beloved whilst he [the beloved] is asleep." The translation of the authorised version of that sacred affirmation is unintelligible. Mr. Trench has the support of Luther's version, which has the sentence thus:
The celebrated German Jewish translator of the Old Testament agrees with Mr. Trench. The following is Dr. Zunz's rendering:
"Das giebt er seinem Liebling im Schlaf."
The following is the Hebrew annotation in the far-famed Moses Mendelsohn's edition of the Book of Psalms:
[Hebrew: YTNHW HQB-H LYDYDW 'SHR HW' CHPTS BW B`WDNW YSHN WBLY MRCHH:]
"The holy and blessed One will give it to his beloved, in whom He delights, whilst he is yet asleep and without fatigue."
I need not adduce passages in the Hebrew Psalter, where such ellipsises do occur. E. M. B. evidently knows his Hebrew Bible well, and a legion of examples will immediately occur to him.
If E. M. B. will refer to Hengstenberg's _Commentary on the Psalms_, he will find that Mr. Trench is not without authority for his translation of Ps. cxxvii. 2. I quote the passage from Thompson and Fairbairn's translation, in Clark's _Theological Library_, vol. iii. p. 449.:
"[Hebrew: SHN'] for [Hebrew: SHNH] is not the accusative, but the preposition is omitted, as is frequently the case with words that are in constant use. For example, [Hebrew: BQR, `RB], to which [Hebrew: SHNH] here is poetically made like. The exposition _He gives sleep_, instead of _in sleep_, gives an unsuitable meaning. For the subject is not about the sleep, but the gain."