He begins with information about his childhood, including his godparents, the date of his innoculation against smallpox, and his education; and continues with biographical information about his college years; his first employment; his travels with Thomas Gray; and his Parliamentary activities. Much of the manuscript concerns the pieces he wrote, both published and unpublished, and those he published with the Strawberry Hill Press, as well as his reactions to the reviews he received. He also includes anecdotes concerning his attack by highwaymen in 1749; the family quarrel with his uncle Horace Walpole; and his disagreements with David Hume and Voltaire.

In the second letter dated 23 June 1771 to John Fitzpatrick, Lord of Ossory, Walpole discusses printing and antiquarian matters as well as gossip among their acquaintances. Walpole offers to print a pamphlet for Ossory at Strawberry Hill; shares his findings about the foundation and devices of Stoughton; and mentions various romantic attachments and pursuits of the British nobility, as well as gossips about Voltaire and the Duchess de Choiseul.