Far more poetical is the verse as given in the Douai version: "His eyes are as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk, and sit beside the beautiful streams." It may even be said without any question that the mistakes of the old translators were often much more beautiful than the original.

A splendid example is given in the verse of Job, chapter twenty-six, verse thirteen: "By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." By the crooked serpent was supposed to be signified the grand constellation called _Draco_, or the Dragon.

And the figure is sublime.

It is still more sublime in the Douai translation.

"His obstetric hand hath brought forth the Winding Serpent." This is certainly a grand imagination--the hand of God, like the hand of a midwife, bringing forth a constellation out of the womb of the eternal night.