Quote
REDSON
Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman but to see a blemish, and who probably never looked at you in his life!
Some things to consider here on your questions. I am not stating I know answers, just looking at probabilities:
Firstly, the words are Jane Austen's, but are surprisingly vague in a few areas. Mr Bennet, for starters, knows little or nothing of Darcy that we are told of in the book, his involvement with him being less than almost anyone's, so the statement is rather odd coming from him unless it is pure, blind speculation. In true Mr Bennet fashion they could be just sarcasm or an attempt at humorous mickey-taking. Also..
."in his life" for someone who none of them knew beyond a year?
We know nothing at all of Darcy's lifestyle ( or Bingley's either) pre-Meryton and the opening description. Is this deliberately vague by J.A and asking us to use our imaginations? I think we can rule "gay" right out unless we want to consider bi-sexual tastes. Neither Darcy or Bingley would just go right into a normal man/woman relationship if this were the case. I'm pretty sure that if Jane Austen were indicating that she would have made the reader aware of such. Then there are the social conventions of the time, particularly at upper middle-class levels, which allowed little laxity in associations between single men and women of marriageable ages.
I'd reckon Mr Bennet was most likely just being sarcastic.
