19.6. 6. That Everything ought not to be corrected.
Let them but leave us
as we are, said a gentleman of a nation which had a very great
resemblance to that we have been describing, and nature will repair
whatever is amiss. She has given us a vivacity capable of offending, and
hurrying us beyond the bounds of respect: this same vivacity is
corrected by the politeness it procures, inspiring us with a taste of
the world, and, above all, for the conversation of the fair sex.
Let them leave us as we are; our indiscretions joined to our good
nature would make the laws which should constrain our sociability not at
all proper for us.
