The Ashiesteel correspondence begins on folio 61. It is preceded by:

(i) Miscellaneous papers: 'Flowers of the Forrest', in the autograph of Mrs Cockburn (folio 1); letter of Robert Burns to Patrick Miller of Dalswinton on the lease of Ellisland, 1788, printed in the ‘Kilmarnock Standard’, 14 August 1943 (folio 3); 'The Hag in the Red Cloak', verses ridiculing Matthew Gregory Lewis, in the hand of John Leyden (folio 5); letters of Humboldt, undated (folio 6), and Disraeli, 1865 (folio 7);

(ii) Letters of Sir Walter Scott to his aunt, Christian Rutherford, and others, 1794-1827, undated (Those of any importance are printed in the Centenary Edition of Scott's Letters). (folio 9);

(iii) Three poems in Sir Walter Scott's hand. 'To the cruel Lady of the Mountains', beginning 'Ah! Why wilt thou not be my Love', 1793 (folio 35); 'The Sang of the Outlaw Murray', written out, according to a note, for Christian Rutherford about 1797, a version occasionally differing from Herd's and that printed in the ‘Minstrelsy’ (folio 37); 'Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogene', by Matthew Gregory Lewis, transcribed by Scott for Miss Rutherford, with slight variations from the printed text (folio 52).