BOOK II PART I
minish the passion. Now it is certain the iden-
tity of the possesion strengthens the relation of
ideas arising from blood and kindred, and con-
veys the fancy with greater facility from one
generation to another, from the remote ances-
tors to their posterity, who are both their heirs
and their descendants. By this facility the im-
pression is transmitted more entire, and excites
a greater degree of pride and vanity.
The case is the same with the transmission of
the honours and fortune through a succession
of males without their passing through any fe-
male. It is a quality of human nature, which we
shall consider (Part II. Sect, 2.) afterwards, that
the imagination naturally turns to whatever is
important and considerable; and where two
objects are presented to it, a small and a great
one, usually leaves the former, and dwells en-