(_a_) The Subrector was charged with the general management of the College during the Rector’s absence, the supervision of the conduct of the Fellows and commoners, the presiding over disputations, and the writing of all letters on College business. The emblem of his office was a whip, which, with his alternative title (Subrector _sive_ Corrector[175]), is eloquent as to his original duty of correcting faults of conduct by corporal punishment. This scourge of four tails, made of plaited cord after the old fashion, is still extant and perfect, is solemnly laid down by the Subrector at the conclusion of his term of office, and restored to him next day on his re-election. It has been coveted for the Pitt-Rivers anthropological museum, as a genuine example of the “flagellum” of mediæval discipline. (_b_) The Bursar (_thesaurarius_) was charged with the duties of paying bills, collecting rents, and keeping accounts; of seeing that commons were duly and sufficiently supplied; and of governing the College servants (over whom he had the power, with the consent of the Rector, of appointment and dismissal). (_c_) The Key-keeper (_claviger_) was to keep one of the three keys with which the Treasury was locked, and one of the three keys of the chest in the Treasury which contained the College money, the other keys of these sets being in the charge of the Rector and Subrector. This “chest of three keys” corresponds to the balance to the credit of the College at its bankers and its investments in the public stocks; in it were placed any surplus money or donations to meet sudden calls for payment or to wait investment; and the idea of appointing a key-keeper was that the chest might never be approached by any person at random or singly, but always by responsible officers, protected against themselves by the presence of others. (7) The Fellows were strictly required to reside in Oxford and within College. During the Long Vacation they might be absent from College for six weeks; at other times not for more than two days, without special leave: the Rector and Subrector had, however, general directions given them in the statutes not to be niggardly in granting leave in cases where the presence of the applicant was required by no College duties. On several occasions of the visitation of the city by the plague, this requirement of residence was relaxed; and the Fellows were permitted to have all their allowances if they lived in common at some place near Oxford. Thus, in the pestilence of 1535, commons were allowed to the Rector, Subrector, and five Fellows in residence at Launton, for a fortnight in some cases, for a month in others; and in that of 1538, commons were allowed to the Rector, Subrector, and twelve Fellows in residence at Gosford (near Kidlington), during a period of no less than fifteen weeks.