The journal is partly in shorthand, but there is a summary at the end of each year except 1834 and 1840. The writer also made a yearly list of the births, marriages and deaths of her friends, and of the sermons she had heard.

A copy of an article on the journal by Sir James Balfour Paul in ‘Chambers`s Journal’, 7th series, xi (1921), pages 221-224, together with his letter presenting the volumes to the Advocates` Library, is inserted in Adv.MS.22.6.6. (folios i-iii).

A sixth volume, covering the period 1840-1842, was not included in the donation. The volumes are numbered 4-7 and 9, which suggests that three earlier journals and one for 1834-6 are missing; they were not known to Paul.