royal English blazon or coat of arms By the King, A PROCLAMATION.  
WILLIAM R.  
WHereas by an Act made the last Session of this present Parliament, Entitled, An Act for the further Preventing the Growth of Popery, reciting, That there has of late been a much greater Resort into this Kingdom than formerly, of Popish Bishops, Priests and Jesuits, who openly and in insolent manner, do Affront the Laws, and daily endeavour to Pervert Our Natural-born Subjects, which has been occasioned by Neglect of the due Execution of the Laws already in Force; For Preventing the further Growth of Popery, and of such Treasonable and Execrable Designs and Conspiracies against Our Person and Government, and the Established Religion, It is Enacted, That from and after the Five and twentieth Day of March, One thousand seven hundred, all and every Person and Persons, who shall Apprehend and Take one or more Popish Bishop, Priest or Jesuit, and Prosecute him or them, so Taken, until he or they be Convicted of Saying Mass, or of Exercising any other Part, of the Office or Function of a Popish Bishop or Priest within these Realms, shall Receive of the Sheriff or Sheriffs of the Country where such Conviction shall be made (without Paying any Feé for the same) for every such Offender, so Convicted, the Sum of One hundred Pounds, within Four Months after such Conviction, and Demand thereof made, in such manner as in the said Act is Directed. And it is thereby Enacted, That if any Popish Bishop, Priest or Jesuit whatsoever, shall say Mass, or Exercise any other Part of the Office or Function of Popish Bishop or Priest within these Realms or the Dominions thereunto belonging, or if any Papist or other Person, making Profession of the Popish Religion, shall keep School, or take upon themselves the Education or Government, or Boarding of Youth in any Place within this Realm, or the Dominions thereto belonging, and being thereof lawfully Convicted, shall on such Conviction be Adjudged to Perpetual Imprisonment. An it is thereby further Enacted, That from and after the Nine and twentieth Day of September in the Year of Our Lord, One thousand seven hundred, if any Person Educated in the Popish Religion, or Professing the same, shall not, within Six Months after he or she shall attain the Age of Eighteéns Years, Take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and also Subscribe the Declaration set down and expressed in an Act of Parliament made in the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, Entitled, An Act for the more Effectual Preserving the King's Person and Government, by Disabling Papists from Sitting in either House of Parliament, to be by him or her Made, Repeated and Subscrilbed in the Courts of Chancery, or King's Bench, or Quarter Sessions of the Country where such Person shall Reside, every such Person shall, in respect of him or herself only and not to or in respect of any of his or her Heirs or Posterity, be Disabled and made Incapable to Inherit or Take by Descent, Devise or Limitation, in Possession, Reversion or Remainder, any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments within this Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed; and that during the Life of such Person, or until he or she do Take the said Oaths, and Make, Repeat and Subscribe the said Declaration, as aforesaid, the next of his or her Kindred, which shall be a Protestant, shall have and enjoy the said Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, without being Accountable for the Profits by him or her Received, During such Enjoyment thereof; but shall not commit wilful Waste on the Premises, on Penalty of Triple Damages. And that from and after the Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred, every Papist, or Person making Profession of the Popish Religion, shall be Disabled, and is thereby made Incapable to Purchase either in his or her own Name, or in the Name of any other Person or Persons, to his or her Use, or in Trust for him or her, any Manors, Lands, Profits out of Lands, Tenements, Terms, or Hereditaments, within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed; And that all Estates, Terms, and any other Interests or Profits whatsoever out of Lands, from and after the said Tenth Day of April, to be made, suffered, or done to or for the Use or Behoof of any such Person or Persons, or upon any Trust or Confidence, mediately or immediately, to or for the Benefit or Relief of any such Person or Persons, shall be utterly Void and of none Effect. And it is thereby Provided, That nothing in the said Act contained, shall be Construed to Extend to any Popish Priest, for saying Mass or Officiating as a Priest, within the Dwellinghouse of any Foreign Minister Residing here, so as such Priest be not one of Our Natural-born Subjects, nor Naturalised within any of Our Dominions, and so as the Name of such Priest, and Place of his Birth, and the Foreign Minister, to whom he shall belong, be Entered and Registered in the Office of Our Principal Secretary of State. And it is thereby further Enacted, reciting, That by an Act made in the Third Year of King James the First, Entitled, An Act to Prevent and Avoid Dangers which may Grow by Popish Recusants, whosoever shall be Convicted of Sending, or causing to be Sent any Child, or any other Person under their Government, unto Parts beyond the Seas, out of the King's Obedience, to the Intent that such Child or Person so Sent should be Educated in the Romish Religion contrary to the said Act, is to Forfeit One hundred Pounds, One Half to the King's Majesty, and the other Half to him that shall Sue for the same; That for the greater Encouragement and Reward of those who shall Discover such Offenders, That the said Sum of One hundred Pounds shall be to the sole Use and Benefit of him or her who shall Discover or Convict any Person Offending, to be Recovered as by the said Recited Act is Enacted. And to the end that the Protestant Children of Popish Parents, may not in the Life time of such their Parents, for want of fitting Maintenance, be Necessitated, in Compliance with their Parents, to Embrace the Popish Religion, contrary to their own Inclinations, 'Tis thereby also further Enacted, That from and after the Five and Twentieth Day of March, One thousand seven hundred, if any such Parent, in order to the Compelling such his or her Protestant Child to Change his or her Religion, shall refuse to Allow such Child a fitting Maintenance, suitable to the Degree and Abilities of such Parent, and to the Age and Education of such Child, Then upon Complaint thereof made to Our Chancellor, Keeper of Our Great Seal, or Commissioners of Our Great Seal for the time being, It shall be Lawful for Our said Chancellor. keeper or Commissioners, to make such Order therein as shall be Agreeable to the Intent of the said Act. And whereas We have thought it necessary that none of Our Subjects may be Ignorant of the Contents of the said Act, and in order to put the said Act in due Execution, That the said should be Published in the most Solemn manner; We therefore (with the Advice of Our Privy Council) have thought fit to Issue this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby Declaring, That all Popish Bishops, Priests and Jesuits, or other Person or Persons, who shall be found Offending against the said Act, shall be Prosecuted with the utmost Seventy according to Law. And We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Our Loving Subjects, to use their utmost Diligence in putting the said Act in Execution, by Discovering, Taking and Apprehending all Popish Bishops, Priests and Jesuits, and other Persons Offending against the said Act, to the end they may Receive the just Punishment of the Laws for their Offences.  
Given at Our Court at Hampton Court, the Two and twentieth Day of April, 1700. In the Twelfth Year of Our Reign.  
GOD SAVE THE KING.   

LONDON, Printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, deceased, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty. MDCC.