He spoke English very imperfectly, and his ludicrous mistakes destroyed all his dignity and rendered it impossible to maintain any discipline in the class.

He would break out occasionally in despair, "Young zhentlemen, you do not respect me and I have not given you any reason to." A usual punishment for misconduct in those days was to deduct a certain number of the marks which determined rank from the scale of the offending student.

M.Viau used to hold over us this threat, which, I believe, he never executed, "Young zhentlemen, I shall be obliged to deduce from you." He was followed by the Comte de la Porte, a gentleman in bearing and of a good deal of dignity.

The Count was asked one day by Nat Perry, a member of the class from New Hampshire who was very proud of his native State and always boasting of the exploits in war and peace of the people of New Hampshire, what sort of a French scholar M.Viau, his predecessor, was.
The Count replied: "He was not a fit teacher for young gentlemen.
He was an ignorant person from the Provinces.

He did not have the Parisian accent.