of the worst prejudices against poor people (read women) in that statement. A poor spinster is "the proper sport of boys and girls"? What a contemptable attitude is that...That money alone determines respect in society and a poor unmarried woman is "obviously" going to be "disagreeable and ridiculous"?? No wonder Jane Austen wrote that she created a heroine that only she could love! The only "justification," if there is any, for such a mean spirited attitude is youth -- and at 21 Emma is no longer a child or a teenager.