Legacy MattersThe grave of Jane Austen is in Winchester Cathedral. Her epitaph extols her sweetness of temper and the extraordinary endowments of her mind as well as the warmest love of her intimate connections which now span the centuries.
Anyone who has read Jane Austen will agree she left a Great Legacy as fresh today as when she wrote. I know one woman who has loaded her iPod with every one of her novels, so that, on shuffle mode, she is transported from delicious scene of human delusion and foible to another.
The Jane Austen Society of North America and its many regional offshoots meet often to share their enthusiasm and admiration for Austen's genius.
Their welcoming quote:
"It's such happiness when good people get together---and they always do."
Jane Austen, Emma.
.......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 intimate connections.
Their grief is in proportion to their affection.
they know their loss to be irreparable,
but in their deepest affliction they are comforted
by a firm though humble hope that her charity,
devotion, faith and purity, have rendered
her soul acceptable in the light of her
REDEEMER.