Mountain, Jacob

Mountain, Jacob an Anglican prelate, was born in Norfolk, England, in 1750. He was a descendant of the celebrated Montaigne; his own grandfather was a great- grandson of the French essayist, and was exiled from France during the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Mountain was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, class of 1774, became fellow in 1779, and, entering holy orders, held important livings in England, among them those of St. Andrew's, Norwich, of Buckden, and of Holbeach, as well as a stall in Lincoln Cathedral. Mr. Pitt was intimately acquainted with him, and that statesman interested himself in the ecclesiastical promotion of his friend, so that in 1793 Mr. Mountain was made bishop of Quebec. He was the first Protestant prelate in the Canadas. He died near Quebec, June 16, 1825. "Bishop Mountain promoted the formation of missions and the erection of churches in all the more populous townships, which he regularly visited — even when age and infirmity rendered so vast and fatiguing a circuit a most arduous and painful undertaking."