The writer of the notebook which forms this collection was probably a law student. In addition to a part-copy of the transcript of the trial of Captain John Porteous in 1736, there are other notes on legal matters, aphorisms and religious references. The notebook is rather like a commonplace book.

What transpired as the lynching of Captain John Porteous in 1736 was another shocking incident in Edinburgh's dark history. Porteous had been captain of the city guard of Edinburgh when one Andrew Wilson, a smuggler, was hanged on 14 April 1736. The crowd sympathised with Wilson and a riot started. Porteous ordered the guard to fire above the heads of the mob and in so doing onlookers from adjacent tenements were shot and injured. This enraged the mob even more and Porteous took the extreme measure of ordering his troops to fire on the people, killing six. Porteous was tried and convicted for murder, but seemed likely to be spared the death penalty. Popular feeling ran so high that a mob stormed the old Tolbooth Prison on 7 September 1736 and took Porteous to be beaten, repeatedly hung and let down, and eventually killed. No-one was ever punished for the riot, but the Provost of Edinburgh was dismissed for failing to manage his turbulent city.