In preparing this Manuscript for the Press, my anxious endeavour has been faithfully to reproduce the original: only I have extended the contractions 'w^{h} and w^{ch}' for 'with' and 'which' and 'o^{r}. y^{r}' for 'our' and 'your' and the like. I have somewhat modified the capitals: but in the Divine names (nouns and pronouns) and impersonations, have employed capitals. The punctuation of the Manuscript is almost _nil_: I have adopted present usage on a uniform principle; and also the apostrophe of the possessive case, &c. Only one point perplexed me a little, viz. the sign of the plural. At the period a peculiar form represented 'es' as denoting plural, but examination showed our Manuscript as using it with 'e' immediately before. Hence it is apparent the Scribe used it arbitrarily. My rule has been to represent it simply by 's' for our plural, except in the cases--pointed out where they occur--in which 'es' as an additional syllable is required for the rhythm. Throughout, the orthography is literally preserved: and besides six collations of my transcript with the Original, by myself, I have had the advantage of a minute comparison by my experienced and erudite friend, the late John Bruce, Esq., of London, and in part by W. Aldis Wright, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. So that our first publication of the Manuscript may be relied on as absolutely true to the Original. It may be added that I have adhered to the order in which the several Poems are given, with the single exception of placing the anonymous very noticeable 'Elegiacal Epistle' on the death of Davies last. The two short pieces that precede it in our Volume, occupy in the MS. the closing page, which is a kind of fly-leaf. I feel assured that every admirer of Sir John Davies will agree with me that a deep debt of gratitude is due to Mr. Laing for his generous consent to have the Manuscript included in our editions of the 'Poems.' Independent of the interest attaching to their illustrious authorship the 'Psalms' seem to me to possess rare merits, being as a whole strikingly faithfull to the Original, and not para-phrastic--hence Anthony-a-Wood's 'Metaphrase'--simple yet picturesque, 'smooth' but melodious, and in every quality infinitely superior to the attempts of BACON, JEREMY TAYLOR, ROUS, and others. Some of the Versions must find a place in the Church's Psalmody and Hymnology. I must not omit to acknowledge the courteous attention of Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt in informing me of the existence and ownership of the Manuscript. Anything further requiring to be said, will be found in the footnotes. G. _Hitherto Unpublished Poems._ METAPHRASE OF SOME PSALMS. PSALM I.[182]