The notes are generally arranged on a county basis. The contents are as follows.

(i) Valuation of the county of Dunbarton in parishes (folio 1).

(ii) Notes respecting Collegiate and other churches (folio 1 verso).

(iii) List of the number of examinable persons in several parishes in the Highlands (folio 28).

(iv) `The Stewartry of Kirk-cudbright contains in all 28 parishes...`, with a topographical description of the division of the Stewartry (folio 30).

(v) Notes and statistics on selected parishes specifically describing the divisions of Kintyre (folio 31), Knapdale (folio 31 verso), Cowal (folio 32), `Argyle properly so called, is another Division of the Shire of Argyle ...` (folio 33), Lorne (folio 34), the isles of Argyll (folio 34 verso), miscellaneous parishes of Argyllshire (folio 35 verso), Sutherland (folio 36), Orkney (folio 36 verso), Shetland (folio 37), Caithness (folio 37 verso), Ardnamurchan (folio 38), Lismore and Appin (folio 38 verso), Clachan (folio 39), Kilbrandan and Kilchattan (folio 39 verso).

(vi) A list of the patronages belonging to the Laird of Grant (folio 40).

(vii) A topographical and statistical note on Rousay and Eagleshay (folio 40 verso).

(viii) An alphabetical list of all the parishes in Aberdeenshire with the names of the saints to whom each is dedicated, patrons` names, the numbers of examinable people in each parish and the religious houses to which they belonged. Many other local and topographical notes are included. The hand is principally that of Macfarlane but the entire section is scattered with subsequent annotations (folio 41).

(ix) List of the churches suppressed in the Aberdeen Diocese without having any modern church to replace them (folio 50).

(x) List of the churches in the Diocese of Aberdeen erected since the Reformation to replace old ones (folio 50).

(xi) List of the churches built and endowed in the Diocese of Aberdeen since the Reformation where there was no church previously (folio 50 verso).

(xii) Historical notes on the Collegiate Church of Bothwell (folio 51).

(xiii) Notes on some witnesses from the rolls and registers (folio 52).

(xiv) Notes on the parishes of Lanarkshire indicating the ward (upper and nether) in which each is situated and the number of examinable persons in each (folio 54).

(xv) Notes on the parishes of Dumfriesshire indicating the section (Annandale or Nithsdale) in which each parish is situated and the number of examinable persons in each (folio 55 verso).

(xvi) Notes on the parishes of Ayrshire, divided into the jurisdictions of Cunningham, Kyle and Carrick, with a note of the jurisdictions in which each parish is situated and the number of examinable persons in each (folio 57).

(xvii) Statistics and list of the parishes of Dunbartonshire (folio 59) and Stirlingshire (folio 59 verso).

(xviii) "Addenda praepositis Collegii S[anc]tae Trinitatis prope Edinbr." (folio 60 verso).

(xix) Valuation or the old Extent of the counties of Scotland (folio 61).

(xx) Notes on the following parishes and counties giving the number of examinable persons in each: Dunrossness (folio 62 verso), Eigg, Rum, Canna and Muck with a note on the numbers of Catholics on each island (folio 63), Linlithgowshire (folio 63 verso), Peeblesshire (folio 64), Elgin and Forres with a note of the numbers of Catholics (folio 64 verso), Banffshire (folio 65 verso), Fife (folio 66 verso), Renfrewshire (folio 68 verso), Kincardineshire (folio 69 verso), Argyllshire (folio 69 verso).

(xxi) Further notes on Collegiate and other churches (folio 73 verso).

(xxii) Valuation or the new Extent of the parishes of Lanarkshire, 1753. Written in a different hand from the bulk of the manuscript (folio 78).

(xxiii) Lists of the four parishes in Scotland of the highest and lowest valuations, and other notes on the same theme (folio 79 verso).

Internal evidence, folio 62 verso, provides a date of 1741. A later entry, folio 78 recto, indicates that the notebook was still in use in 1753.