]I posted earlier in the GR that he seems to have the smallest fortune of any man in JA's novels except Edward Ferrars, yet it's treated as if he could hardly have anything more to wish for financially. I wonder what changed between JA's earlier novels and this one?

When you posted it the first time, it made me curious to know the answer too. I would love to be able to comment on it myself but I have no such expertise. It's an excellent question so hopefully someone with some knowledge of this will read your post and comment on it. :)