After he had taken his degree at Cambridge, he was a candidate for a fellowship at Downing College, which he did not succeed in obtaining; but the manner in which he acquitted himself at the examination was such that more than ten years afterwards, when application had been made to the then Professor of Greek, (Dr. Monk, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester,) to recommend a person to fill the office of Principal of a College in Nova Scotia, he wrote to his brother to enquire whether he thought such a situation would be acceptable, adding, "if you encourage the idea, I shall be delighted to offer my testimony in favour of his classical qualifications, which I well recollect at the examination for a fellowship at Downing College, when I thought that he displayed talent and good scholarship in no ordinary degree, and he would, I am convinced, be a most desirable head of the establishment." I ought not to pass over the assistance which he derived in the pursuit of his studies from his elder brother, to whom this letter was addressed; he was a ripe and accurate scholar, and though only eighteen months his senior, was able to give him much valuable advice. He still survives, the only one remaining of the children of the first Bishop of Quebec, is a prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral, (almost the senior prebendary of England,) Rural Dean, Commissary of the Archdeacon of Bedford, and rector of Blunham, Beds, where, in his 79th year, he performs three services, and preaches three times every Sunday of his life.

CHAPTER II.

Ordination-Journeyings with his father-Marriage Settlement at Fredericton-Removal thence to Quebec.

AFTER leaving Cambridge, the younger of the two brothers returned, in 1811, to Canada, where he had the great advantage of pursuing his studies in preparation for Holy Orders, to which his mind had been long directed, under the guidance of his father, whom he aided at the same time, in the work of his diocese, as his secretary.* He continued to act in this capacity after his admission to Deacons' Orders, which were conferred in the cathedral of Quebec, by the same hands by which he had been baptized and confirmed, on the 2nd August, 1812. He rendered assistance, during his diaconate, in the duties of the parish of Quebec, of which his cousin, the Rev. Salter Mountain, M.A., of Caius Coll., Cambridge, and chaplain to the Bishop, was minister. Mr. Mountain was one of those who had accompanied the Bishop to Canada in 1793, being then already in Orders.

In 1813, the Rev. G. J. Mountain attended his father on his triennial visitation of the diocese. He took rough notes which he designed afterwards to expand into a fuller journal, but even at that early stage of his ministry, his hands were always more than full, so that it does not carry us to any great

This preparation was not deemed inconsistent with his obeying the call made for volunteers in the American war, and though he was never engaged in any active operations, he served as one of the garrison of Quebec, on the ramparts of which he was long remembered to have mounted guard.

distance. It is sufficiently interesting, however, as affording a picture of the means of conveyance half a century ago. Their destination was Upper Canada, and in order to reach it, the Bishop, with two sons and a daughter and two servants, embarked at Quebec in a bateau (after waiting an hour at the water's edge till it could be got alongside the stairs.) This vessel was provided by Government, and "over the middle part of it, a neat wooden awning was built, and lockers, which also formed seats, were arranged along three sides of the square apartment under the awning; the fourth, towards the front of the boat, being open. The Bishop, however, sat in the middle, in a great old arm-chair. The crew consisted of a pilot and four rowers, two before and two behind the awning. For these men, who were engaged to convey them to Montreal, fifty pounds of pork and thirty loaves were provided by agreement, in addition to which, the pilot was to receive £4, and the men nine dollars each." It was proposed to proceed to Pointe aux Trembles to sleep, but having met a gentleman from St. Nicholas, (Mr. Caldwell,) pulling himself in his own wherry, who invited them, on account of the threatening appearance of the weather, to pass the night at his house, the Bishop and his whole party availed themselves of his hospitality. It was arranged that the bateau should go on at daylight, to take advantage of the tide, to St. Antoine, whither the travellers were to proceed by land to join it. The next day, however, the Bishop's daughter became so unwell, that he determined to return to Quebec on her account, and after sundry delays and difficulties in recalling the bateau, the party reached Quebec, three days after they had left it, having accomplished just fifteen miles of their upward journey. "Thus ended this expedition, which had proved nothing throughout but a series of discouragements and distresses. A delay of two days, difficulty of arrangement, and contention with grumbling, unreasonable people, in the first instance; inability to reach our destination

the first night; a leaking bateau; a most unaccommodating tide; a continuance of rain unexampled; the illness of my sister; the failure of the bateau's return from St. Antoine, and the consequent necessity of my father's sitting up (for his bed was on board) all night; and the very considerable expense to no purpose, make up the history of this memorable excursion. A drew up a string of miseries under eleven different heads, and his account was perfectly just." About a week afterwards, the Bishop made a second and more successful attempt. He left Quebec with his own horses on the morning of the 22d July, and reached Kingston on the 8th September. He had four times before visited. Upper Canada, and once had been driven back to Kingston by a storm, when in sight of Niagara. On this occasion, the delay was caused by the necessity of waiting at Montreal for his baggage, which had been entrusted to a schooner. For in the little steamer in which his sons took passage from Quebec, and which had but recently begun to make occasional voyages to Montreal, the passengers were limited to a very small allowance of baggage, and all that the Bishop required for a large party to travel in canoes or bateaux for an indefinite time exceeded the prescribed quantity. The arrangements of the steamer are all minutely described in the journal. Montreal was reached after a voyage of forty-eight hours, and there the Bishop joined his sons on the 27th. After waiting a month for his baggage, he despatched a servant and some men in a bateau, in search of the schooner. They met it twenty miles below Montreal, and the baggage, having been transferred to the bateau, reached Montreal on the 30th August. The minister of Montreal, at this time, was the Bishop's elder brother, and the Church of England was obliged to hire a Scottish kirk to hold service in. On one

* A church had been begun in 1807, in which year Dr. Mountain, writing to the Bishop, complains of the backwardness of the people to pay their subscriptions, adding, "We have paid 500 or 6001, as a committee, out

C

Sunday it is noted in the journal, that "the Scotch congregation having a sacrament, which occupies a long time, there was no service for our Church." Dr. Mountain was the only clergyman in Montreal, or for many miles around. He carried his ministrations to other places, at a distance, where there was any demand for them. He is described as a man of a "cordial, cheerful, benevolent, active disposition, shining forth under his grey hairs of a simple, guileless, ingenuous temper, and the most indefatigable attention to the duties of his profession (which fall heavily upon him), united with the capacity, of which it has shut out the habitual exercise, for elegant and tasteful recreations." Mr. Jackson, the rector of Sorel, happening to be in Montreal during their stay, dined with Dr. Mountain one day, when it was observed that nearly half the clergy of Lower Canada were at the table. There were four in all, including the Bishop, so that besides the four who bore the name of Mountain and Mr. Jackson, there were only three in Lower Canada; the Hon. and Rev. C. Stewart, the apostle of the Eastern townships, the Rev. C. C. Cotton, one of the earliest labourers in the same field, and the Rev. R. Short, of Three Rivers, grandfather of one of the S. P. G. missionaries now holding charge in the diocese of Quebec.

During his stay at Montreal, the Bishop held a confirmation on St. Bartholomew's Day, when forty-two "only" were

of our own pockets, besides our subscriptions, and the workmen and others are still very importunate for more money. I hope, according to what you mention in your letter, that we may reckon on 500 from the Society, 2001 from the Lord Mayor and Corporation, and 150l from the London Merchants,-in all 850l sterling. Could we draw for this money we might possibly go on with the building, having confidence in your goodness in endeavouring to use every means of procuring us a sufficiency to finish it." A large grant was made by the Imperial Government, but a great delay took place in the payment of it, from correspondence occasioned by a mistake made in the Colonial office, where it was supposed that Monreal was in Upper Canada.