While I suppose Mr. Elton would have greatly preferred moving out of the old parsonage and into the grand estate of Hartfield, it appears he never gave any thought to what would happen to Mr. Woodhouse if Emma had accepted him. That "rather he than I" strikes me as both nasty and downright cruel. I'm sure he was polite enough to Mr. Woodhouse when he was invited to Hartfield, and now I imagine he was always thinking how irksome the old man was. Even Mrs. Elton's comment is mild by comparison, for all she is doing is recollecting a family she knew who tried a similar living arrangement without success. I'd always thought the Eltons were made for each other, but he seems even meaner than she is, and given his line of work, that's just dreadful.