The contents of the manuscript are as follows:

(i) Copy of the accounts of Robert Lord Boyd, Collector General of Thirds, for the year 1576, covering Kirklands in Inverness, Ross, Caithness, Sutherland, Fife, Strathearn, Nairn, Banff, Elgin, and Forres (folio 1).

(ii) Minutes extracted from the Exchequer Register, covering the periods July 1630 to November 1634 (folio 73), January 1642 to June 1647 (folio 104 verso), and July 1661 to June 1674 (folio 116).

(iii) Copy of queries put by the Lord High Treasurer to the Lord Advocate and to Sir John Cuningham of Wishawes, with their replies, concerning the responsibility of Sheriffs, Stewards, and Bailies to collect taxes without a commission from the Collector General, 1684 (folio 126 verso).

(iv) Extracts from the Books of Sederunt of the Lords of Session, 1626-1650 (folio 128 verso).

(v) Extracts from the accounts of Sir John Seton of Barnes, Comptroller of the Royal Property, for the year 1587 (folio 133). The accounts are published in full in ‘The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland’, volume xxi, page 321 and what follows.

The manuscript was originally part (though not in the Inventory) of the Rose Collection, Adv.MSS.49.7.1-49.7.20, and was apparently copied for Rose, the work having been completed on the 21st September, 1780 (folio 138); there is an index at the beginning, and some notes by Rose at both the beginning and the end.