[Jane Austen] Mini-Bio; #3

No book published in Jane Austen's
lifetime bore her name on the title-page;
she was never lionized by society; she was
never two hundred miles from home; she
died when forty-two years of age, and it
was sixty years before a biography was
attempted or asked for. She sleeps in the
cathedral at Winchester, and not so very
long ago a visitor, on asking the verger
to see her grave, was conducted thither,
and the verger asked, "Was she anybody
in particular? so many folks ask where
she's buried, you know!" But this is
changed now, for when the verger took
me to her grave and we stood by that plain
black marble slab, he spoke intelligently
of her life and work. And many visitors
now go to the cathedral only because it is
the resting-place of Jane Austen, who
lived a beautiful, helpful life and produced
great art, yet knew it not.
--Elbert Hubbard, 1897, Little Journeys
to the Homes of Famous Women, p. 353

The precise locality of the gravestone
is in the pavement of the fifth bay of the
north aisle, counting from the west. It
is a slab of black marble with the follow-
ing inscription:--"In memory of JANE
AUSTEN, youngest daughter of the late
Rev. George Austen, formerly Rector of
Steventon in this County. She departed
this life on July 18, 1817, aged 41, after
a long illness, supported with the patience
and hope of a Christian. The benevolence
of her heart, the sweetness of her temper,
and the extraordinary endowments of her
mind, obtained the regard of all who knew
her, and the warmest love of her immediate
connexions. Their grief is in proportion
to their affection; they know their loss to
be irreparable, but in their deepest afflic-
tion they are consoled by a firm, though
humble, hope that her charity, devotion,
faith, and purity have rendered her soul
acceptable in the sight of her Redeemer."
--Oscar Fay Adams, 1891-96, The Story
of Jane Austen's Life, p. 220.