out-topt

Where a Man happened to be eminent for Power, for Virtue, for Riches, or for Credit, he became sole Magistrate, and the State assumed a monarchical Form; if many of pretty equal Eminence out-topt all the rest, they were jointly elected, and this Election produced an Aristocracy; those, between whose Fortune or Talents there happened to be no such Disproportion, and who had deviated loss from the State of Nature, retained in common the supreme Administration, and formed a Democracy.