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 compass, 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.