Part 27 (1/2)

SURPLICE FEES.

Rector. Clerk, s. d. s. d.

For burying in the church, 1 0 1 0 Ditto church-yard, 0 6 0 6 Churching a woman, 0 4 0 4 Marrying by licence, 5 0 2 6 Ditto without, 2 6 1 0 Tythe pig, if seven or upwards, 0 4 0 0 Easter dues, man and wife, 0 4 0 0 ---- each person above sixteen, 0 4 0 0 Clerk's salary 20s. paid by the wardens; also 2d.

from each house keeper at Easter.

From the above terrier, I am inclined to value the income at about 90_l_. per annum.

The benefice, in 1771, was about 350_l_. per annum: the late Rector, John Parsons, procured an act, in 1773, to enable the inc.u.mbent to grant building leases; the grant of a single lease, in 1777, brought the annual addition of about 170_l_. The income is now about 700_l_. and is expected, at the expiration of the leases, to exceed 2000_l_.

The repairs of the chancel belong to the rector, and the remainder of the building to the parish.

SAINT PHILLIP's.

We have touched upon various objects in our peregrinations through Birmingham, which meet with approbation, though viewed through the medium of smoke; some of these, being covered with the rust of time, command our veneration; but the prospect before us is wholly modern.

We have mounted, by imperceptable gradations, from beauty to beauty, 'till we are now arrived at the summit.

If an historian had written in the last century, he would have recorded but two places of wors.h.i.+p; I am now recording the fourteenth: but my successor, if not prevented by our own imprudence, in driving away the spirit of commerce, may record the four-and-twentieth. The artist, who carries the manufactures among foreigners, or the overseer, who wantonly loads the people with burdens, draws the wrath of the place upon his own head.

This curious piece of architecture, the steeple of which is erected after the model of St. Paul's, in London, but without its weight, does honour to the age that raised it, and to the place that contains it.

Perhaps the eye of the critic cannot point out a fault, which the hand of the artist can mend: perhaps too, the attentive eye cannot survey this pile of building, without communicating to the mind a small degree of pleasure. If the materials are not proof against time, it is rather a misfortune to be lamented, than an error to be complained of, the country producing no better.

Yet, amidst all the excellencies we boast, I am sorry to charge this chief ornament with an evil which admits no cure, that of not ranging with its own coemetery, or the adjacent buildings: out of seven streets, with which it is connected, it lines with none.--Like Deritend chapel, of which I have already complained, from a strong attachment to a point of religion, or of the compa.s.s, it appears twisted out of its place. We may be delighted with a human figure, complete in stature, exactly moulded with symmetry, and set off with the graces of dress; but we should be disgusted, if his right side seemed to attempt to out-walk his left.

This defect, in religious architecture, arises from a strict adherence to the custom of the ancients, who fixed their altars towards the east.

It is amasing, that even weakness itself, by long practice, becomes canonical; it gains credit by its age and its company. Hence, Sternhold and Hopkins, by being long bound up with scripture, acquired a kind of scripture authority.

The ground, originally, was part of a farm, and bore the name of the Horse-close; afterwards _Barley-close_.--Thus a benign spot of earth, gave additional spirits to a man when living, and kindly covered him in its bosom when dead.

This well chosen spot, is the summit of the highest eminence in Birmingham, with a descent every way; and, when the church was erected, there were not any buildings nearer than those in Bull-street.

The land was the gift of Robert Phillips, Esq; whence the name, ancestor to William Theodore Inge, Esquire.

In all degrees of people, from the bishop to the beadle, there seems a propensity in the mind to arrive at the honours of Sainthood: by joining our names in partners.h.i.+p with a faint, we share with him a red letter in the almanack.

Out of six churches in Birmingham, three bear the names of the donors.

St. Bartholomew's would, probably, have taken that of its founder, John Jennens, Esq; but that name happened to be antic.i.p.ated by Sir John de Birmingham, who conferred it upon Deritend chapel. St. Mary's could readily perpetuate the name of its benefactress, because we had no place of wors.h.i.+p that bore it. But as neither the popish, nor the protestant kalendar produced a St. Charles, the founder of St. Paul's was unfortunately excluded.

The gifts, which the benefactor himself believes are charitable, and expects the world to believe the same, if scrutinized, will be found to originate from various causes--counterfeits are apt to be offered in currency for sterling.

Perhaps _ostentation_ has brought forth more acts of beneficence than charity herself; but, like an unkind parent, she disowns her offspring, and charges them upon charity.

Ostentation is the root of charity; why else are we told, in capitals, by a large stone in the front of a building--”This hospital was erected by William Bilby, in the sixty-third year of his age, 1709.” Or, ”That John Moore, yeoman, of Worley Wigorn, built this school, in 1730.”--Nay, pride even tempts us to strut in a second-hand robe of charity, left by another; or why do we read--”These alms-houses were erected by Lench's trust, in 1764. W. WALSINGHAM, BAILIFF.”

Another utters the word _charity_, and we rejoice in the echo. If we miss the substance, we grasp at the shadow.