UNRECORDED BROADSIDE From the Events which have Recently Taken Place Respecting Baptism

Single sheet (32x16cm) printed on one side only, old folds and a few short tears and tiny chips to edges. The address to Lavinia and Lavinia’s answer are printed in two columns, preceded by an introduction which mostly misprepresents the genesis of the text: ‘From the events which have recently taken place respecting BAPTISM, the following Lines on the subject, written by a Clergyman to a Quaker young Lady (who had the early part of her education in this Town) to whom he was paying his addresses, and her Answer; are particularly applicable, and recommended to the perusal of the inhabitants of Kendal and its environs. Kendal, 1809’. The imprint however is placed in Lancaster, some 40 miles away. No other copies located.

Throughout her life Knowles advocated liberty for English women, American colonists, enslaved Africans and French revolutionaries. Her published record is slight, much of her writing surviving in manuscript holdings. This poem however was written in the 1770s and published in A Compendium of a Controversy on Water-Baptism which opposes Lavinia and Clericus - the clergyman.