Stays - whalebone or other material sewn into garments to give shape. Also refers to the garment itself, so stays = corset = stomacher. The stay-maker would have made the item to measure, so might well have had an intimate acquaintance with the clients - but as a skilled tradesman would still be preferred by the father over a "vagabond or loon".

"Goun" is the same as "gown". pronounced to rhyme with "loon", which simply means "boy" or "lad" in the Doric - lowland Scots dialect of the North-East of Scotland.

Ross