Archibald Moncreiff was the son of William Moncreiff, Minister of Monzie, i.e., Moonzie, Fife (folio 137a verso).

The author says (folios 5-6) he had observed that in spite of revolutions in the Church and State of Scotland there was 'little reformation in the lives and maners of men and women nor much to the advantage of the civil interrest of the nation ... This put me upon an earnest enquirie to find out what these evills were'. At the end (folio 137a verso) there is a genealogy of Moncreiffs, with a partial transcript (folio 137b) by George Neilson.