Walker begins by apologising for his delayed reply, explaining that his father died in a fire that destroyed the upper stories of their house at Eccles Street, and that Lord Charlemont also died, resulting in him being unwell from a cold and mental suffering. He then turns to literary matters, mentioning Sheridan’s Pizarro, Malone, Pope Agris, and Voltaire’s Merope.

Included are letters by Robert Adam, Hugh Blair, William Cowper, Richard Cumberland, David Garrick, George Lyttelton, Conyers Middleton, Sir Walter Scott, Richard B. Sheridan, Voltaire, William Wilberforce, and Edward Young. In addition, there are twenty letters by Montagu to various members of her circle and four letters to her from Frances Reynolds.