The Chancellor's Deputy is styled Vice-Chancellor. He is always the Head of a College, and is nominated by the Chancellor, and approved by Convocation. He appoints four assistants, or ProVice-Chancellors, who are Heads of Colleges. His office is annual, though generally held four years, by new yearly nominations. The Vice-Chancellor is the highest resident Officer of the University. His situation is one of great dignity and responsibility to him is consigned the superintendence of the University; he watches over the due observance of every regulation; he convenes Congregations, Convocations, and Courts; and the presence of the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, or one of the ProVice-Chancellors, is indispensably necessary at all meetings in the two Houses of Congregation and Convocation; in which Houses the whole business of the University, in its corporate capacity, is transacted. He is a Magistrate of the University, the County and City of Oxford, and the County of Berks. In all academic processions the Esquire and Yeomen Bedels walk before him with their gold and silver staves; and a Yeoman Bedel is in constant attendance on him. At all Meetings of Convocation, even at the annual Commemoration in the Theatre, the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors remain covered during the whole of the ceremony.

The office of High Steward is appointed by the Chancellor, but must be approved by the Convocation, and continues for life. This office is always held by a Nobleman. He is to assist the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Proctors, in the execution of their respective duties, and to defend the rights, customs, and liberties of the University.

The office of Proctor is accompanied with great authority in the University, as it confers the power to inspect the conduct of its members, and to take cognizance of and punish all offences committed without the walls of a College. The Proctors are two Masters of Arts, of at least four years standing, and not more than ten, who are chosen annually out of the several Colleges by turns. They each nominate two Masters of Arts of any College or Hall to be their respective deputies, who are called Pro-Proctors.

The University sends two Representatives to Parliament, chosen from those who are or have been members of their body. The election of these Members should serve as a model to all other places in the kingdom. The Candidates are put to no expense; their merits are duly weighed previously to their nomination, and they may be considered as placed in their seats for life, unless they should be promoted to a peerage, or be found grossly inattentive to the interests and welfare of the nation.

In the University are many Professors and Lecturers, a list of whom is given at the beginning of this Description of Oxford.

A Public Orator is chosen by Convocation, who retains his situation during his life. He writes letters and addresses on public occasions, presents those on whom the honorary Degree of Master of Arts is conferred, and delivers the annual Creweian Oration alternately with the Professor of Poetry.

Before we commence our account of the Members of the University, it is necessary to point out to strangers the difference between Colleges and Halls. Colleges are all endowed with estates, and

are incorporated bodies; Halls are not so, although some of them have Exhibitions towards the maintenance of certain Students. The Principals, or Heads of the Halls, receive annual rents for the chambers inhabited by the Students, who live at their own expense. The Chancellor of the University has the disposal of the Headships of all the Halls, except that of St. Edmund Hall, which is in the appointment of the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College. With respect to every Academical privilege, the members of Halls stand precisely on the same footing with those of Colleges. Their discipline, course of studies, length of residence, examinations, degrees, dress, and expenses, are the same as in the Colleges.

Every College and Hall has a Governor, whose nominal distinctions vary. They are called in different Colleges, Dean, Rector, Provost, Warden, President, Master, and Principal. The Heads of Halls are called Principals.

The Members of the University may be divided into two classes: those on the foundation, commonly called Dependent Members: and those not on the foundation, termed Independent Members. The Dependent Members derive emolument from the revenue of their Societies, and on some of them the management and discipline of the whole body devolve.

The Independent Members consist of such persons as repair to the University for their education and degrees; but who, as they have no claim on the estate of the Society to which they belong; so they possess no voice nor authority in its manage

ment; and during their residence in a College or Hall, they are supported at their own expense.

The Dependent Members, or Members on the foundation, are as follow:

The Head of the College.

The Fellows, (called Students at Christ Church.) The Scholars, (called Demies at Magdalene.) Chaplains.

Bible Clerks.

Under the head of Members on the Foundation, may also be included the College Officers, who are chosen from among the Fellows; and some of the servants hereafter mentioned.

The Head of a College, (except in the instance of Christ Church, where the Dean is nominated by the Crown, and Worcester, where the Provost is appointed by the Chancellor of the University,) is chosen by the Fellows, from those who are or have been Fellows of the Society.

The qualifications for Fellowships vary in almost every Society. The Fellows are, according to the statutes of the College, or the Will of the Founder, elected from certain public schools, and admitted on their arrival in Oxford; or they are young men, who, having studied and distinguished themselves in other Colleges, offer themselves' as Candidates, and are selected by the votes of the Fellows; in some Societies they are confined to the natives of particular counties, or elected from the Scholars; and, in others, the kindred of the Founder have peculiar privileges. The Fellows, in conjunction with the Head of the College, are, in all cases, the directors of the internal regulation of their Society,

and the managers of its property and estates; and from among this body the Church Preferment attached to every College is distributed, according to seniority, as a vacancy occurs.

The Scholars are, in a few Colleges, Probationary Fellows, although in some others, the attainment of a Scholarship is attended with no other beneficial consequence than the receipt of a stated annual sum towards the education of the person who holds it. Strangers are often perplexed with the terms Scholar and Student, and sometimes apply them indiscriminately to all members of the University. For their information we repeat, that by a Scholar of a College is meant the person who holds the rank abovementioned; and that a Student is one of the 101 members of that name at Christ Church, whose rank is similar to that of Fellow of other Colleges.

The Chaplain has a stipend, and generally chambers and provisions in his College. His duty consists in the performance of divine service in the Chapel.

A Bible Clerk performs a different duty in various Colleges, and his stipend, and the fund from which it arises, differ in like manner. He is re

quired to attend the service of the Chapel, and to deliver in a list of the absent Under-Graduates to the officer appointed to enforce the discipline of the College.

Exhibitioners, although not on the foundation, may be reckoned amongst the Dependent Members, as they receive from particular schools, from the bequest of private persons, or from the Colleges themselves, a stipulated sum, which assists in sup