“Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family. At ten years old, she had the misfortune of being able to answer questions which puzzled her sister at seventeen. She was always quick and assured: Isabella slow and diffident.”
– Jane Austen
Emma, Chapter 5. Emma is the cleverest member of the Woodhouse family, and her sister Isabella is slow and not as quick-witted. So their father Mr. Woodhouse tells Mrs. Weston and Mr. Knightley.