] what does JA mean by describing a gentleman as 'a man of information'? (I remember Emma asking Jane Fairfax whether Mr Frank Churchill was a 'man of information'...)

I think this is a device used by JA to show Emma's charcater. Emma is very critical and discriminating of people. What she wants to know is, is Mr Churchill someone in whom she should be interested? Will he be on her (superior) level? Is he a man of information? i.e. Does he have something to say for himself? (or is he a bore?)

:) If anyone has any *information* on the use of the word in JA's time, or by JA elsewhere that might shed any more light on this, it would be *information*.