Collection of Spanish poetry and prose

'Miszelania curiosa', a collection of fifty-eight pieces of poetry and prose written in various hands, accompanied by a typescript list of contents. Most of the works are anonymous, although there are poems by Joseph Perez de Montoro and Suor Juana Ines de la Cruz. The longest item is a series of twenty-six satires in verse and prose, dated 1735-1736, by 'un critico Duende', possibly Manuel Freyre de Silva, a Portuguese. The satires are aimed in particular at Don Jose Patino, minister to Philip V, and parody sermons, carnival verses, preparations for confession, exhortations to charity, counsels to the dying, street ballads and royal edicts. The remaining poetry in the volume includes further political satires; a supposedly autobiographical relation of a bull-fight; advice to a young man on how to behave in Madrid; 'Iuicio ynparzial de la Espana en dezimas', with verses on different provinces of Spain and one on America; 'Sueno politico de Don Melchor de Almeida', an eighty-page satire on Philip IV's government; and an account in street ballad style of the defeat of Admiral Vernon's forces in his attack on Cartagena in 1741. The prose pieces include a copy of a military report from Oran in 1760, and two others relating to Morocco; a copy of a decree of 1765 setting up a tribunal to examine the conduct of the Spanish officers who surrendered Havana to the English; an announcement of the discovery of more (fake) 'lead books' at Granada, 1757; a copy of the expenses for the festivities at the entry of Charles III into Madrid in 1760; and a recipe for varnish.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

The volume was purchased from the bookseller Thomas Thorpe by Sir Thomas Phillipps, and became Phillipps MS 2475 in his library. Purchased by the Library at Sotheby's, 16 June 1970.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.