_Mrs. B. Lefroy_ ranked _Emma_ as a composition with _S. and S._ Not so _brilliant_ as _P. and P._ nor so _equal_ as _M. P._ Preferred Emma herself to all the heroines. The characters, like all the others, admirably well drawn and supported--perhaps rather less strongly marked than some, but only the more natural for that reason. Mr. Knightley, Mrs. Elton, and Miss Bates her favourites. Thought one or two of the conversations too long. _Mrs. Lefroy_ preferred it to _M. P._, but liked _M. P._ the least of all. _Mr. Fowle_ read only the first and last chapters, because he had heard it was not interesting. _Mrs. Lutley Sclater_ liked it very much, better than _M. P._, and thought I had 'brought it all about very cleverly in the last volume.' _Mrs. C. Cage_ wrote thus to Fanny: 'A great many thanks for the loan of _Emma_, which I am delighted with. I like it better than any. Every character is thoroughly kept up. I must enjoy reading it again with Charles. Miss Bates is incomparable, but I was nearly killed with those precious treasures. They are unique, and really with more fun than I can express. I am at Highbury all day, and I can't help feeling I have just got into a new set of acquaintance. No one writes such good sense, and so very comfortable.' _Mrs. Wroughton_ did not like it so well as _P. and P._ Thought the authoress wrong, in such times as these, to draw such clergymen as Mr. Collins and Mr. Elton. _Sir J. Langham_ thought it much inferior to the others. _Mr. Jeffrey_ (of the _Edinburgh Review_) was kept up by it three nights. _Miss Murden._--Certainly inferior to all the others. _Captain C. Austen_ wrote: '_Emma_ arrived in time to a moment. I am delighted with her, more so I think than even with my favourite, _Pride and Prejudice_, and have read it three times in the passage.' _Mrs. D. Dundas_ thought it very clever, but did not like it so well as either of the others. * * * * *