According to an 'introductory letter' to John Gibson Lockhart, 1833, Joseph Train wrote these recollections for the benefit of his children and sent them to Lockhart for use in his ‘Life of Sir Walter Scott’. The work, which includes transcripts of letters of Sir Walter Scott, some not printed in the Centenary Edition, gives an account of Train's relations with Scott, of his antiquarian researches and the objects which he presented to Scott, of Galloway traditions, some of which provided material for Scott's writings, and of Scott's efforts to obtain preferment for Train in the Excise. It is in the hand of Train's son William (see page 232, note); Joseph Train has added several notes in his own hand, including one dated 1841 (page 283). Pages 133-138 and other unnumbered pages were torn out by Lockhart for incorporation in the ‘Life’.

A letter of Cadell, 1833, advising Train to send the 'sketch' to Lockhart, is inserted at the beginning.