‘Is this fair, Mrs. Weston?’ for Jane Austen's "Emma" (1905) by Hugh Thomson (P. 111, Chapter XV)

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‘Is this fair, Mrs. Weston?’

Hugh Thomson

1905

Photomechanical reproduction of a pen-and-ink drawing

11 by 8.5 cm (4 ⅛ by 3 ¼ inches), vignetted

Jane Austen, Emma, facing page 110.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Mr. Elton appeals to Mrs. Weston to guard Emma's health.

He turned to Mrs. Weston to implore her assistance, “Would not she give him her support? — would not she add her persuasions to his, to induce Miss Woodhouse not to go to Mrs. Goddard’s till it were certain that Miss Smith’s disorder had no infection? He could not be satisfied without a promise — would not she give him her influence in procuring it?”

“So scrupulous for others,” he continued, “and yet so careless for herself! She wanted me to nurse my cold by staying at home to-day, and yet will not promise to avoid the danger of catching an ulcerated sore throat herself. Is this fair, Mrs. Weston? — Judge between us. Have not I some right to complain? I am sure of your kind support and aid.” [Chapter 15, 110]

Commentary: Mr. Elton has disregarded Harriet's health entirely.

Emma (left) is somewhat surprised that Mr. Elton has so suddenly disregarded possible threats to Harriet's health at Mr. Goddard's, as he begs Mrs. Weston (right) to safeguard Emma's health instead.

Related Material

Bibliography

Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. Austin Dobson. With forty pen-and-ink illustrations by Hugh Thomson. The Novels of Jane Austen. London: Macmillan, 1896, rpt. 1905.

Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. R. Brimley Johnson. With coloured illustrations by C. E. Brock. The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen. 2 vols. New York & Philadelphia: Frank S. Holby, 1906.

Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. George Justice. 4th edition. New York: W. W. Norton, 2011.

Austen, Jane. Emma: An Annotated Edition. Ed. Bharat Tandon. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard U. P., 2012.

Last modified 27 April 2026