them was so strong that a policy of toleration was almost an
impossibility. The Catholics were excluded specially from enjoying the
concessions made in favour of the Dissenters, and in the Bill of
Rights (1689) it was provided that no member of the reigning family
who was a Catholic or had married a Catholic could succeed to the
throne, and that any sovereign of England who became a Catholic or
married a Catholic thereby forfeited the crown. Catholics were
prohibited from residing within ten miles of London; magistrates were
empowered to administer the objectionable oath of allegiance to all
suspected Papists; Catholics were forbidden to keep arms, ammunition,
or a horse valued for more than ten pounds; they were debarred from
practising as counsellors, barristers, or attorneys; if they refused
to take the oath they were not allowed to vote at parliamentary
elections; they were incapacitated from inheriting or purchasing land;
and prohibited from sending their children abroad for education; while
priests were to be punished with imprisonment for life for celebrating
Mass, and spies who secured the conviction of priests were offered
£100 as a reward.[21]

During the reign of Anne (1702-14) and during the early portion of the
reign of George I. the persecution continued, especially after the
unsuccessful rebellion of 1715 in which many Catholics were accused of
taking part.[22] After 1722 the violence of the persecution began to
abate, and Catholics began to open schools, and to draw together again
their shattered forces. Fortunately at the time there was one amongst
them in the person of Richard Challoner, who was capable of infusing
new life into the Catholic ranks and of winning for the Church the
respect even of its bitterest opponents. Richard Challoner (1691-1781)
was born in London, and was converted to Catholicism at the age of
thirteen. He entered Douay College, in which he remained twenty-five