Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
Another factor I found plausible is that Percy spoke unaccented French. He did grow up abroad, so why not? And in one later book, I can't remember which one and this isn't spoilery, the choice of League member for a particular rescue included the ability to speak unaccented French, leaving out Lord Antony, as I recall. Quite coincidentally, I recently finished a social history of the Regency, broadly defined by the author as lasting from the first Regency crisis in 1788 through 1820 and it gave me a good context for The Scarlet Pimpernel. Apparently, the upper classes all spoke French.
Somewhat less credible is that Chauvelin spoke English well enough not to be detected as French at the Fisherman's Rest, but so be it. Perhaps that was a qualification for his being chosen as French emissary, given the spying on the side the job entailed.
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Yes on both accounts. Certainly the English upper-classes spoke French, and often had native French-speaking governesses / teachers from a very early age.
The French, on the other hand, might have learned English, but rarely at such an early age, thus leaving them with an undoubted accent.