SOURCE: "The Doubtful or Disputed Poems" in The Poetical Works of John Gay, edited by G. C. Faber, Oxford University Press, 1926, pp. xxiii-xxxiv.

In the following essay, Faber outlines his reasons for including or excluding several poems from his collection of Gay's work. His analysis of the problem of authorship offers a concise overview of Gay's publishing history, his literary connections, and his literary style.

By far the most embarrassing problem, with which a conscientious editor of an eighteenth-century poet is confronted, is the problem of determining what he is to include as his author's. It is an embarrassing problem, and yet the labour spent upon it is for the most part unremunerative; for the pieces in doubt are generally of minor, if not of trifling, importance. However, a decision has to be made and supported; and this kind of detective work is not altogether without interest.

In...