Thanks to Mrs Elton, everybody in Highbury is giving dinners, and evening parties, and learning the latest Bath fashions they should wear to them, and what their just desserts should be.

Before, people would merely visit each other during the day, or give old fashioned dinner parties, or maybe play cards in the evening, and chat about Mr Elton and how sad it was that he was single. (Actually, Mrs Elton deserves the gratitude of every woman in the area with more than 500l. to her name, for marrying Mr Elton. Imagine how vile he would be to Emma and Harriet if he had returned to Highbury single!).