 Mrs. Elton is only a first generation gentry, as her father bought the land that she grew up on with money he had raised in trade.Her snobbery is therefore that of a "nouveau riche", desperately insecure of her status.When Mrs. Elton boasted that her family had owned their estate for a number of years, Emma responds that a true English gentry family would count ownership of their estate in generations, not years.