James Bramston

James Bramston (c. 1694 – 22 December 1743) was a satirist, educated at Westminster School and Oxford, and later Vicar of Hastings.

Quotes

• What's not devoured by Time’s devouring hand?
  Where's Troy, and where's the Maypole in the Strand?
  • Art of Politics (1729).

• But Titus said, with his uncommon sense,
  When the Exclusion Bill was in suspense:
  "I hear a lion in the lobby roar;
  Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door
  And keep him there, or shall we let him in
  To try if we can turn him out again?"
  • Art of Politics (1729). Colonel Titus is reported to have said, "I hope we shall not be wise as the frogs to whom Jupiter gave a stork for their king. To trust expedients with such a king on the throne would be just as wise as if there were a lion in the lobby, and we should vote to let him in and chain him, instead of fastening the door to keep him out". On the Exclusion Bill, Jan. 7, 1681.

• So Britain’s monarch once uncovered sat,
  While Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimmed hat.
  • Man of Taste (1733).