FOR the middling sort of eighteenth-century England, reputation was king. In that era of unlimited liability and fierce competition, being known for good sense and sound business or professional practice might make the difference between solvency and the debtor's prison, between prosperity and dismal failure. Credit, that ‘mighty nice touchy lady’, gave her favours only to those who guarded their good name jealously and were forever watchful for the least whisper of scandal. The family name must remain unsullied, the family character unimpeachable.

Imagine, then, the distress of a middling father on learning that a son – especially an eldest son – had been guilty of the very fashionable vice of gaming for large sums. The actions of a son reflected on his father's name and reputation, and his duty to his father demanded more than mere obedience. ‘Every deviation from integrity should be guarded against, and accounted as inexcusable on any principle; because one deviation leads to another.… The only way assuredly to avoid continuing in evil is never to let it begin.’ A few young men slid well down that slippery slope and found themselves cut off from families and financial supports; many more hastened to the feet of their indignant parents and promised reformed behaviour and renewed filial duty. The sowing of wild oats often proved costly to young pride, and damage control often involved drastic, even harsh, actions on the part of fathers. This chapter will discuss the range of middling responses to the misdeeds of errant sons, and the values encoded in those responses.

Fathers and sons

Like all fathers in this period, the middling paterfamilias had, at least in theory, absolute authority over his household and its dependants; his will constituted the family's will, and his children owed him respect and obedience. He had a particular responsibility to shape the next generation of men, worthy sons for England, men of good sense and conscientious stewards of commerce or profession. At the same time, he must not hobble his sons with over-much restraint; careful men they must be, but they must be men.