Heir

,—one who, according to the wise laws of primogeniture, is to inherit all his father’s possessions, to the detriment of his other relations, although he be polluted by every vice, and they endowed with every virtue. Thus, monsters have inherited dominions, and become the scourge of the human race; and thus mankind will continue to be tyrannized over, and to be miserable, till they have courage and wisdom to unite, to shake off the yoke and get rid at once of all those barbarous prejudices and preposterous customs, that have so long poisoned their existence. [Swift observes, that heirs to titles and large estates have a weakness in their eyes, and a tenderness in their constitution.]