The contents are as follows.

(i) Part of an 'Inaugural address' delivered to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, probably given in 1859 and entitled 'The popular tradition of poetry of the north of Europe'. See W Aldis Miller, 'The philosophical', (Edinburgh, 1949, page 19). (Folio 1.)

(ii) Two 'Valedictory' lectures. (Folios 14, 29.)

(iii) 'Notice of the death of Dr George Wilson', November 1857. (Folio 35.)

(iv) Lecture, circa 1847, on the occasion of returning certain class essays. Aytoun complains of the 'Metaphysical tendency of the essays'. (Folio 37.)

(v) 'The privacy of authors', incomplete. (Folio 55.)

(vi) 'The present period of literature', incomplete. (Folio 59.)