Emma

by Jane Austen

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them:

He had never been an unhappy man; his own temper had secured him from that,

And yet she was a happy woman, and a woman whom no one named without good-will.

She loved every body, was interested in every body’s happiness, quicksighted to every body’s merits; thought herself a most fortunate creature, and surrounded with blessings in such an excellent mother, and so many good neighbours and friends, and a home that wanted for nothing.

The simplicity and cheerfulness of her nature, her contented and grateful spirit, were a recommendation to every body, ...