The thesis is an annotated edition of MS Rawlinson Poetical 147, a miscellany of seventeenth-century verse written mainly by poets associated with Cambridge. The text of the MS is transcribed and presented (with a few exceptions) in its original form, retaining the scribe's spelling and punctuation. The textual introduction outlines the procedure adopted. The notes accompanying the verse provide a summary of the contemporary background and identify, where known, people, places and events directly relevant to the poems; allusions and obscure words are also explained. Where applicable, the commentary serves to provide additional information concerning the poems' origins, including authorship, variants in other MSS, and publication details. The biographical index provides details of the lives of the poets, particularly those who have received little or no scholarly attention. The introduction explores four topics of direct relevance to the study of minor seventeenth-century verse: the problems associated with establishing the authorship of minor verse where autograph variants are no longer extant; the style and purpose of topical and political satire; style as a reflection of contemporary taste and trends; and the specific style of Clement Paman, whose work comprises the largest body of unpublished verse in the collection. In conclusion the aim of the work is to increase the reader's perception of how contemporary tastes and trends influenced and directed the writing (and reception) of verse designated 'minor' in the twentieth century. In addition this study will furnish the student of seventeenth-century literature with an increased knowledge of the background against which poets such as Donne, Jonson and Milton were writing.