The contents are as follows:

(i) Letter of Lethington to Mary, Queen of Scots, describing an interview with Elizabeth, 1562 (folio 1);

(ii) Letter of Lethington to Dudley, on Mary's attitude to negotiations, apparently for her marriage with Dudley, Stirling, 1563 (folio 5);

(iii) Letter of Throckmorton to Lethington, on the prospects of the marriage, London, 1565 (folio 8);

(iv) Letter of Randolph to Leicester, on the same subject, Edinburgh, 1565 (folio 11);

(v) Letter of Leicester to the Countess of Shrewsbury, Kenilworth, undated (folio 15);

(vi) Letter of Randolph to Leicester, describing interviews with Mary, Edinburgh, 1565 (folio 18);

(vii) Letter of Randolph to Leicester, on the situation in Scotland, including the ill-success of Mary's marriage with Darnley and the prospect of Riccio being murdered, Edinburgh, 1566; printed, in ‘Scottish Historical Review’, volume xxxiv (1955), page 135 (folio 24);

(viii) Letter of Randolph to Leicester, on Mary's intention of marrying Bothwell, etc., 1567 (folio 32);

(ix) Copy of a contract made at Dumbarton by Argyll and others to free Mary from Lochleven, 1567 (folio 35);

(x) Letter of The Regent Moray to Leicester, on Mary's escape from Lochleven, Glasgow, 1568 (folio 37);

(xi) 'Copie of a proclamation made be the Kings ma[ties] rebells', in Mary's name, Linlithgow, 1571 (folio 40);

(xii) Letter of Elizabeth to Morton, on the release of Sir John Carmichael, surrendered after the Raid of the Reidswire, Windsor, 1575 (folio 43);

(xiii) Letter of Nau to Walsingham, on Mary's affairs, endorsed 1584 (folio 46);

(xiv) Letter of Nau to Walsingham, on articles needed by Mary, Tutbury, 1585 (folio 48);

(xv) Letter of Mary to Walsingham, regarding a passport for her servants, etc., Tutbury, 1585 (folio 50);

(xvi) Letter of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, to Lady Stanhope, on her affairs, 1564 (folio 51);

(xvii) Letter of Nau to Walsingham, asking for passports for servants, Chartley, 1586 (folio 54);

(xviii) Letter of James VI to the Master of Gray, regarding information supplied by Gray about 'thais folkis proceidingis', undated (folio 56).