a pang of remorse to her aunt. But when Glaud ventures to warn
her against being too free with Patie, seeing he could not marry her
now, she replies with gentle reproach--

'Sir William's virtuous, and of gentle blood;
And may not Patrick too, like him, be good?'

Glaud's answer exhibits the simple faith of the rural inhabitants of the
district in a striking light--

'That's true and mony gentry mae than he,
As they are wiser, better are than we;
But thinner sawn: they're sae pufft up wi' pride,
There's mony o' them mocks ilk haly guide
That shows the gate to heav'n. I've heard mysel
Some of them laugh at doomsday, sin, and hell.'

The last scene of the pastoral contains the _denouement_. With great
artistic skill, so as to avoid wearying the reader, Ramsay only
represents the delivering of the verdict upon Bauldy's appeal against
Mause, the result being that the former was informed he only got what he
deserved. At this moment, however, Madge, Peggy, and Jenny enter the
room where Sir William was sitting. On Peggy Sir Williams gazes with
interest, but presently starts with surprise. Her features are those of
his long-dead sister. Eagerly he inquires from Glaud if she be his
daughter. Glaud, after some hesitation, declares her to be a foundling.
At this juncture, however, old Mause steps forward and unravels the
tangled skein. She first calls on Sir William to say if he does not
recall her features as his own old nurse. Sir William joyfully
recognises her, and then she relates how she had brought Peggy as a babe
thither, to save its life from those who had usurped its rights after
his sister's death. She declares that Peggy is indeed his own niece, and
Patie's full cousin.

Patie's joy is now complete, and the two lovers, their prospective union
blessed by Sir William, fall into one another's arms; while the
happiness of the shepherds and rustics is consummated when Sir William,
restored to his possessions, announces his intention never more to leave
them. To Symon and Glaud he assigns their _mailings_ (farms) in
perpetual feu, while Roger is made his chamberlain. As the curtain then
descends over general happiness, Sir William pronounces the usual moral
admonition, without which no pastoral of the time was complete--

'My friends, I'm satisfied you'll all behave,
Each in his station as I'd wish and crave.
Be ever virtuous, soon or late ye'll find
Reward and satis