BOOK II PART III
It is evident, that the pleasure of hunting con-
flicts in the action of the mind and body; the
motion, the attention, the difficulty, and the un-
certainty. It is evident likewise, that these ac-
tions must be attended with an idea of util-
ity, in order to their having any effect upon
us. A man of the greatest fortune, and the far-
thest removed from avarice, though he takes a
pleasure in hunting after patridges and pheas-
ants, feels no satisfaction in shooting crows and
magpies; and that because he considers the first
as fit for the table, and the other as entirely use-
less. Here it is certain, that the utility or im-
portance of itself causes no real passion, but is
only requisite to support the imagination; and
the same person, who over-looks a ten times
greater profit in any other subject, is pleased to
bring home half a dozen woodcocks or plovers,
after having employed several hours in hunt-