“A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her (so totally different were her delicate features and mild dark eyes from his own), there could be nothing in them, now that she was faded and thin, to excite his esteem.” (Chapter 1)

For a young lady not seen very much in the world, Anne has collected the good opinions of four different gentlemen: two marriage proposals—Captain Wentworth and Charles Musgrove, and in the space of 24 hours at Lyme, the admiration of two very different gentlemen—Captain Benwick and Mr. Elliot. Not to detract from her elegant mind, her gentle and pleasing ways or loving nature, but I have always thought that Anne must be beautiful because the only description of her appearance in general until Lyme, is from Sir Walter who does not like her appearance first of all because she is so unlike him—so I do not feel his description is valid.