[54] One misfortune, which was imputed to him as a crime, was his bad English.

He spoke our language, but not well.

His accent was foreign: his diction was inelegant; and his vocabulary seems to have been no larger than was necessary for the transaction of business.

To the difficulty which he felt in expressing himself, and to his consciousness that his pronunciation was bad, must be partly ascribed the taciturnity and the short answers which gave so much offence.

Our literature he was incapable of enjoying or of understanding.