“So the baby was carried in a small deal box, under an ancient woman’s shawl, to the churchyard that night, and buried by lantern-light, at the cost of a shilling, and a pint of beer to the sexton, in that shabby corner of God’s allotment where He lets the nettles grow, and where all unbaptized infants, notorious drunkard, suicides and others of the conjecturally damned are laiD)”

From which novel is this excerpt taken?

The correct option is Tess by Thomas Hardy.

This poignant and critical passage is excerpted from Thomas Hardy's famous 1891 novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (often referred to simply as Tess).

The passage describes the secretive and hurried burial of Tess's infant son, whom she names "Sorrow." Because the baby is unbaptized, he is denied a traditional Christian burial in consecrated ground. Instead, he is buried at night in the overgrown, neglected corner of the churchyard reserved for "unbaptized infants, notorious drunkards, suicides, and others of the conjecturally damned."

Hardy uses this scene to critique the rigid, unforgiving religious and social institutions of Victorian England, which lacked compassion for innocent children and vulnerable women like Tess.