compendiums till after our era.

So Emma could not consult any books.Truth be told she didn't need any.

The county set was quite well known among its members: it still is ;-) Intermarriage and possible marriages/alliances made people quite aware of connections and origins. If Miss Hawkins had been of a notable family with an estate in Gloucestershire,or indeed anywhere, then connections could have been made. But she wasn't.Her history spoke for itself.

Miss Hawkins comes from a mercantile background, no land ,no connections to any estate,or noted people, from Bristol not the country: and that would have been sufficient for Emma and for contemporary readers of the book to be able to draw conclusions about her status.

Don't you think if there had been any landed estate and notable connections in addition to what was already gossiped about, the details would have been passed around Highbury like wild fire?

After alll, the information came from the horse's mouth,as it were. Mr. Elton himself arrived to triumph in his happy prospects, and circulate the fame of her merits, and this was all he could manage ;-)

BYW,I'm not quite sure why you made a reference to the Bath arrivals columns?Can you explain athat a littel more clearly for me?I don't understand why you mention it in connection with the Highbury population?