They made the blunder common in Europe of thinking that there were no social distinctions in America.

Washington could have told him a different story.

Intercourse was at first difficult, for few of the Americans spoke French and fewer still of the French spoke English.

Sometimes the talk was in Latin, pronounced by an American scholar as not too bad.

A French officer writing in Latin to an American friend announces his intention to learn English: "Inglicam linguam noscere conabor." He made the effort and he and his fellow officers learned a quaint English speech.