The translation of the _Psalme 137_, which was inserted in _1633_ and never withdrawn (as the _Epitaph on Shakespeare_ was) is pretty certainly not by Donne. The only manuscript which ascribes it to him is _A25_ followed by _C_. On the other hand it is assigned to Francis Davison, editor of the _Poetical Rhapsody_, in _RP61_ (Bodleian Library). In one manuscript, Addl. MS. 27407, the poem is accompanied with a letter, unsigned and undirected, which speaks of this as one out of several translations made by the author. The handwriting and style of the letter are not Donne's, but the letter explains why this one Psalm is found floating around by itself. It was, the translator says, a freer paraphrase than the others. Apparently it proved a favourite.
When one turns from the poems attributed to Donne in the old editions to those which some of the more recent editors have added, one launches into a sea which I have no intention of attempting to navigate in its entirety. Both Sir John Simeon and Dr. Grosart were disposed to cry 'Eureka' too readily, and assigned to Donne a number of poems culled from various manuscripts for the genuineness of which there is no evidence external or internal. I shall confine my remarks to the few poems I have myself incorporated for the first time in an edition of Donne's poems; to the Song 'Absence hear my protestation', which it is now the fashion to ascribe to Donne absolutely, letting evidence 'go hang'; and to the four poems which Mr. Chambers printed from _A25_. I have added some more in my Appendix C, because they are interesting [Greek: adespota] illustrative of the influence in seventeenth-century poetry of Donne's realistic passion and his paradoxical wit.
Of the poems which appear here for the first time in a collected edition, it is not necessary to say much of those which are taken from _W_, the Westmoreland MS. now in the possession of Mr. Gosse, who with the greatest and most spontaneous kindness has permitted me to print them all. These include two Epigrams, four additional Letters, and three Holy Sonnets. The Epigrams, the Holy Sonnets, and two of the Letters have been already printed by Mr. Gosse in his _Life of John Donne_, 1899. There can be no doubt of their genuineness. They enlarge a series of Letters and a series of Sonnets which appear in _1633_ and in all the best manuscript collections. In their arrangement I have followed _W_ in preference to _1633_, which is based on _A18_, _N_, _TC_. Of the letter taken from the Burley MS. there may be greater doubt in some minds. To me it seems unquestionably Donne's (aut Donne aut Diabolus), an addition to the series of letters which he wrote to Sir Henry Wotton between the return of the Islands Expedition and Essex's return from Ireland. The Burley MS. is a commonplace-book of Wotton's and includes poems which we know as Donne's, e.g. 'Come, Madam, come'; some of his Paradoxes with a covering letter; other letters which from their substance and style seem to be Donne's; and a number of poems, including this which alone of all the doubtful poems in the manuscript is initialled 'J. D.' The manuscript contains work by Donne. Does this come under that head? Only internal evidence can decide. Of the other poems in the manuscript, most of which I print in Appendix C, none are certainly Donne's.