Fanny Knight, Jane Austen's niece, has lent Emma to Mrs. C. Cage, who writes back delighted with its characters. Jane preserved the response among the opinions she collected about her novels. Mrs. Cage's sense of spending all day in Highbury shows the book entering the everyday conversation of its first readers. Only this quoted passage is printed here, not the complete letter or a reply from Fanny.

Mrs. C. Cage to Fanny Knight

Date unresolved

A great many thanks for the loan of Emma, which I am delighted with. I like it better than any. Every character is thoroughly kept up. I must enjoy reading it again with Charles. Miss Bates is incomparable, but I was nearly killed with those precious treasures. They are unique, and really with more fun than I can express. I am at Highbury all day, and I can't help feeling I have just got into a new set of acquaintance. No one writes such good sense, and so very comfortable.

Extract from Life and Letters (1913), p. 331.