A Portrait of Jane Austen

Many of you know Jane Austen, faintly, as the author of the book that inspired the film Pride and Prejudice. I did not know much about her at first, but after I read her novels, I began to wonder what kind of a woman this was. And I, a wanna-be-writer, of course, looked into the matter.
I found on the internet (isn't the internet a wonderful thing?) a book by her nephew that was written in 1870. In the future I may post other things of interest that I find about her in the on-line pages of that book, but I liked this description of her in Chapter Five:

Description of Jane Austen's Person, Character, and Tastes:

"...in person she was very attractive; her figure was rather tall and slender, her step light and firm, her whole appearence expressive of health and animation. In complexion she was a clear brunette with a rich colour, she had full round cheeks, with a mouth and nose small and well formed, bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls close around her face. If not so regularly handsome as her sister, yet her countenance had a peculair charm of its own in the eyes of most beholders. At the time of which I am now writing, she was never seen, whether morning or evening, without a cap; I beleive she and her sister were generally thought to have taken to the garb of middle-age earlier than their years or their looks required; and that, remarkably neat in their dress and in all their ways, they were scarecely sufficiently regardful of the fashionable, or the becoming.
She was not highly accomplished according to the present standard. Her sister drew well; Jane herself was fond of music, and had a sweet voice, both in singing and in conversation; in her youth she had received some instruction on the pianoforte; and at Chawton she practiced daily, cheifly before breakfast...in the eveing she would sometimes sing, to her own accompanyment, some simple old songs, the words and airs of which, now never heard, still linger in my memory...
Jane, when a girl, had strong political opinions, espescially about the affairs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As she grew up, the politics of the day occupied very little of her attention, but she probably shared the feeling of moderate Toryism, which prevailed in her family...
Scott's poetry gave her great pleasure; she did not live to make much aquaintence with his novels. Only three of them were published before her death; but it will be seen from the following extract from one of her letters, that she was quite prepared to admit the merits of Waverly, and it is remarkable at that, living, as she did, far away from the gossip of the literary world, she should even then have spoken about his being the author of it:

"Walter Scott has no buisness writing novels; espescially good ones. It is not fair. He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and ought not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths. I do not mean to like Waverly, if I can help it, but I fear I must. I am quite determined, however, not to be pleased with Mrs. --'s, should I ever meet with it, which I hope I may not. I think I can be stout against anything written by her. I have made up my mind to like no novels, really, but Miss Edgeworth's, E's, and my own."

...when staying at Chawton, with two of her other neices, we often had amusements in which my aunt was very helpful. She was the one to whom we always looked for help. She would furnish us with what we wanted from her wardrobe; and she would be the entertaining visitor in our make-believe house. She amused us in various ways...very similar is the testimony of another neice:

"Aunt Jane was a general favourite with the children; her always with them being so playful, and her long circumstantial stories so delightful. These were continued from time to time, and were begged for on all possible and impossible occasions; woven, as she proceeded, out of nothing but her own happy talent for invention..."