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.  But in the revised version, which is exact, we have only “His hand hath pierced the Swift Serpent!” All the poetry is dead.

There are two methods for the literary study of any book—­the first being the study of its thought and emotion; the second only that of its workmanship.  A student of literature should study some of the Bible from both points of view.  In attempting the former method he will do well to consider many works of criticism, but for the study of the text as literature, his duty is very plain—­the King James version is the only one that ought to form the basis of his study, though he should look at the Douai version occasionally.  Also he should have a book of references, such as Cruden’s Concordance, by help of which he can collect together in a few moments all the texts upon any particular subject, such as the sea, the wind, the sky, human life, the shadows of evening.  The study of the Bible is not one which I should recommend to very young Japanese students, because of the quaintness of the English.  Before a good knowledge of English forms is obtained, the archaisms are apt to affect the students’ mode of expression.  But for the advanced student of literature, I should say that some knowledge of the finest books in the Bible is simply indispensable.  The important books to read are not many.  But one should read at least the books of Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, Esther, the Song of Songs, Proverbs,—­and, above all, Job.  Job is certainly the grandest book in the Bible; but all of those which I have named are books that have inspired poets and writers in all departments of English literature to such an extent that you can scarcely read a masterpiece in which there is not some conscious or unconscious reference to them.  Another book of philosophical importance is Ecclesiastes, where, in addition to much proverbial wisdom, you will find some admirable world-poetry—­that is, poetry which contains universal truth about human life in all times and all ages.  Of the historical books and the law books I do not think that it is important to read much; the literary element in these is not so pronounced.  It is otherwise with the prophetic books, but here in order to obtain a few jewels of expression, you have to read a great deal that is