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HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <searchinfo totalhits="2" />
    <search>
      <p ns="0" title="Waddy, James" snippet="...Margaret his children are Rogues and Vagabonds within the true intent and &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; of the statute in that case made and provided and that the place of their L&#10;" size="2938" wordcount="514" timestamp="2013-08-01T10:53:39Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Taylor, Hannah" snippet="...d Hannah Taylor her daughter are Rogues &amp;amp; Vagabonds with the true intent &amp;amp; &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; of the statue in that Case made &amp;amp; provided and that the place of their last&#10;" size="2872" wordcount="500" timestamp="2013-07-03T15:10:19Z" />
    </search>
  </query>
</api>