This article reconsiders the way in which the French language was taught in British schools from 1780 to 1830. In particular, it is shown that (contrary to recent claims) the use of recitation- and conversation-based techniques, as opposed to rule-based grammatical learning, persisted well into the 1820s, both in influential pedagogic textbooks and in the practical teaching methods favoured by certain schools. In order to reveal the extent of this trend, several neglected sources--such as Nicolas Dufief's "Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man" (1804) and Arthur Hill and Matthew Hill's Public Education (1822)--are assessed in some detail. In essence, this article argues that the favoured methods used to teach French in British schools in the early nineteenth century were far more diverse and heterogeneous than is usually acknowledged. (Contains 34 footnotes.)