William Cobbett, The Parliamentary History of England, 1801–1803 (London: 1806), p. 36. The ‘quickening’ referred to the first movements of the foetus in the womb. Typically, a woman starts to feel movement around 18–20 weeks. Levene, Malcolm et al., Essentials of Neonatal Medicine (London: Blackwell, 2000), p. 8.