a state of hostility. In another letter I shall give you a more detailed account. "BIRMINGHAM," says Mr. H. " emits a cloud of smoke, which is seen at a distance before the town is discovered, which at last presents itself in rather a grim aspect; but the buildings have a noble and modern figure, and the whole has the appearance of a great magnitude. The road crosses a canal a little before it enters the town. After having seen the principal parts of this 'great toy-shop of Europe,' I am struck with the increased demand for baubles, which occasions à great influx of wealth and of inhabitants; the consequences of which are, a rapid increase of elegant streets and buildings, as well as vice, luxury, and, partially, a most abject poverty. At present every thing is in a dead state, owing to the war, except muskets, bayonets, &c. The wages of manufacturers are extravagantly high when they have employ, but of which the numerous innkeepers or ale-sellers reap the principal advantage, while the manufacturer too often ruins his health, his morals, and his family thereby, and is some times led to the most desperate acts. Such are the effects of drawing together a great body of men without education or principle, and which I have uniformly found to be the case, more or less, in all large manufacturing towns. "Buttons, buckles," snuff-boxes, watch-chains, and trinkets of every possible description," are the staple manufactures of this town, with which articles it supplies most part of Europe. A great part of the town of Birmingham is quite modern, and its population is now rated at 70,000 inhabitants. Were that numerous assembly of people employed in cultivating the waste lands of the kingdom, they would render a much more essential service to the public for their support. The streets of this town are mostly uniform, pretty wide and clean, but not universally so. New buildings, and even new streets, are rising on almost every side of the town." A This is one of our delightful stages. Many friends, and some of our relatives, reside here. Our abode is the house of a man to whose sterling worth I can bear the most decided testimony. similarity of tastes and pursuits cemented, in the outset of life, those bonds of friendship which neither absence nor time have weakened. The same seminary gave us instruction, and I believe neither of us has ever repented the deliberate choice of our profession. I am sure you will rejoice as cordially as I do in the esteem in which my friend is held, and in the prospect of growing usefulness and comfort which he has before him. It is a little remarkable, that the respected and valuable Minister of the New Meeting was also one of our fellow-students. Embarked in the same cause, we feel that we are brethren indeed -these occasional meetings give us great satis faction, and make us look forward to that blessed abode, where the sincere, virtuous friendships of earth will receive their full consummation. Once more farewell. LETTER XIII. DEAR MADAM, Birmingham, August 31, 1803. My last closed with a general account of this place I shall now, according to my promise, enter a little into detail. I must not, however, enlarge much upon the several articles, for if I were to indulge myself in this respect, I might easily fill a volume with the account. Public edifices are naturally the first objects of regard to a stranger, and of these Birmingham has a fair proportion. Many of its manufactories are large, and some of them handsome buildings. Its religious structures are numerous-I am told they amount to twenty-four, of which nineteen belong to dissenters of various descriptions; St. Martin's is the old church of Birmingham; it is a very ancient pile, and its spire one of the most beautiful in the kingdom; the body of the church is large; it has an excellent set of bells, no less than twelve in number, and its chimes are very musical. St. Phillip's, which was built in the reign of Queen Anne, is a very handsome erection. It is entirely of stone, with a square tower and cupola. Its bells are ten, and the chimes play a separate tune for every day in the week. It stands upon an eminence, and is surrounded by an extensive church-yard, handsomely planted with trees. Large as it is, it seems to be almost full of graves; it is literally crowded with memorials of the dead. Amongst the various inscriptions with which custom, vanity, piety, or affectation have decorated these stony tablets, is one which exhibits so striking a specimen of what I believe I must term the false sublime, that I must transcribe it for should suppose, from the inflated air of the whole, and the pedantic epithet with which it concludes, that the writer must belong to one of the most enthusiastic sects of modern believers-which, I do not pretend to determine. It appears that the deceased lady was one of the first order of illuminati, for thus the inscription runs : you. I "She knew that man in his original was a branch planted in God, and that there was a continual influx from the stock to the scion, and that nature that was so fair in the type, could not be less beautiful in the anaglyph." ! ! What a contrast to such rant as this is the simple thought contained in the following lines, which are copied from the tomb-stone of an idiot in Edgbaston church-yard: "If the innocent are favourites of Heaven, Eternal joys-what wise man can have more ?” St. Paul's chapel is a very neat stone building. The subject of its beautiful altar-piece, which is of stained glass, is St. Paul's conversion. It is the work of the ingenious and justly celebrated Mr. Eginton, whose elegant performances in coloured glass are such ornaments to Oxford, Windsor, Fonthill, and other places. At present this chapel has no steeple. St. Mary's chapel is of an octagon form, brick, and a stone spire. In addition to these places of worship belonging to the establishment, it is now in contemplation to erect what is to be called a Free Church, at which the poor are to be accommodated with convenient sittings without any expence to themselves; and a minister provided by annual subscription, or in some other way, to perform the duty. An act of Parliament has been obtained for the purpose, and I see, by an advertisement in the public prints, that the design is to be immediately carried into execution. It is to be a neat, plain building, to contain about two thousand persons, and to be warmed by four fire-places; there are |