My GR focus is character's physical appearance, and how we get that info.

Before, we had some fairly ambiguous info re. Mr Elton's looks: "a pretty young man" and so on.

But now in Chapt 8 we have no less a person than Mr Knightley, known by all to be a straight-speaking guy who doesn't pull his punches, say, "He [Elton] knows that he is a very handsome young man."

Note how this is worded: Elton is very handsome, and he _knows_ it, i.e. it is part of his assets column on the marriage market, because "he knows the value of a good income [from his future bride]" as well. Mr K is saying that, from what Mr E has said amongst the lads (when, we are given to believe, he drops his chivalrous stance and gets down to brass tacks on how he views women), it appears that he hopes to "marry up" economically, trading on his looks.

A couple of pages later, we get the Highbury Hive's buzzing opinion, via Miss Nash (whom I take to be the ON's way of signalling the general opinion): "Beyond a doubt, Mr Elton had not his [own] equal for beauty".