ABSTRACT
One eighteenth-century Quaker female weighed matrimonial affection against the loss of liberty and bemoaned the unequal status of a wife. These reflections combined with Mary Morris Knowles's earlier resistance to matrimony to suggest an internal critique of marriage among some Quaker women who cherished liberty. Gaining fame, fortune, and access to royalty, she negotiated a request for patronage but struggled to maintain her independence. Returning to England, Mary formed important new connections through her fame, polite Quakerliness, and thoughtful religious discourse. Even more importantly, in the course of completing her needle painting, Knowles gained the friendship of the king and queen. As a polite and well-educated Quaker, Knowles shared many of the values cultivated by the royal family. Through her art, Knowles also gained fame and public recognition. With it came access to power, and she sought royal patronage even as she struggled to protect her independence.
