"When Good Friday falls in a Lady's lap,
To England will happen some mishap,"
or to whom the prophecy (I hope a false one) may be attributed? I have seen it some years since, and have lately been asked the origin of the saying.
J. N. C.
Hull.
[Our correspondent has not quoted this old proverb correctly. It is thus given by Fuller (Worthies of England, vol. i. p. 115. ed. 1840):
"When Our Lady falls in Our Lord's lap
| Then let England beware a sad | clap mishap, |
alias
Then let the clergyman look to his cap."