There isn't any mention of opinions of family and friends of the various married couples in this week's chapters, but 2 passages struck me.

At the end of Ch 7, CW discusses marriage with Mrs Croft 'in answer to her suppositions', and replies 'yes, here I am Sophia, quite ready to make a foolish match'. One can only imagine that the supposition was along the line of 'So are you looking at getting married soon dear?'

In Ch 8 Admiral Croft says of CW 'when he has got a wife... when he is married'. Nowadays, we don't take it for granted that a young independant man will get married. Both his sister and her husband assume he will.

The discussion boards on Pemberley have discussed at great length why Regency women needed to get married, but I don't recall a single discussion on it being imperative for a Regency gentleman to marry, yet here are his family assuming he will anyway.

Why is it essential for gentlemen get married? Admiral Croft's continuation of his speech above goes into some reasons when he discusses how a married man anxiously awaits seeing his family again, and is overjoyed when reunited. Women must get married to be provided for. Men must get married for companionship, care, and providing children