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?”1
ATTRIBUTION:
Art of Politics.
Note 1. I hope, said Colonel Titus, 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. [back]
