affair;
the parapet was adorned with a number of large statues. Atlas was
there, bending under the weight of two or three hundred pounds of
Portland cement. Hercules brandished a heavy club, on which pigeons
often settled. A copy of the celebrated group of the "Horses of St.
Mark" was over the entrance. Several branches of Birmingham work
were exhibited to visitors, and it was here I first saw stamping,
cutting-out, press-work, and coining.

There were then I think only ten churches in Birmingham. Bishop
Ryder's was being built. The Rev. I.C. Barrett had just come from
Hull to assume the incumbency of St. Mary's; the announcement of his
presentation to the living appeared in _Aris's Gazette_, October
8th, 1837. I was one of his first hearers. The church had been
comparatively deserted until he came, but it was soon filled to
overflowing with an attentive congregation. There was an earnest tone
and a poetical grace in his sermons which were fresh to Birmingham in
those days. His voice was good, and his pale, thoughtful, intelligent
face was very striking. He was a fascinating preacher, and he became
the most popular minister in the town. The church was soon found to
be too small for the crowds who wished to hear, and alterations of an
extensive nature were made to give greater accommodation. Mr. Barrett
had then the peculiarity in his manner of sounding certain vowels,
which he still retains--always pronouncing the word "turn," for
instance, as if it were written "tarn." I remember hearing him once
preach from the text, 1 _Cor._, iii., 23, which he announced as
follows: "The farst book of _Corinthians_, the thard chaptar, and the
twenty-thard varse." Although still hale, active, and comparatively
young-looking, he is by far the oldest incumbent in Birmingham, having
held the living nearly forty years.

St. George's Church then looked comparatively clean and new. A curious
incident occurred here in May, 1833, an account of which I had from
the lips of a son of the then churchwarden. Birmingham was visited
by a very severe epidemic of influenza, which was so general that few
households escaped. Nor was the epidemic confined to mankind; horses
were attacked, and the proprietor of "The Hen and Chickens" lost by
death sixteen horses in one day. So many of the clergy and ministers
were ill, that some of the places of worship had to be closed for a
time. St. George's, which had a rector and two curates, was kept open,
altho