[There is no doubt the belief of Friday being an unlucky day
originated in its being the day of the Crucifixion. A very early
allusion to this superstition, and which has not we believe been
recorded by Brande, will be found in Geoffrey de Vinsauf's "Lament
for Richard Coeur de Lion," who was killed on a Friday:
"O Veneris lacrymosa dies, O sidus amarum!
Illa dies tua nox fuit, et Venus illa venenum."
It is to this passage Chaucer refers in his _Nonnes_ Preeste's
Tale, v. 15, 353., _et seq._, when he says:
"O Gaufride, dere maister soverain,
That, whan thy worthy King Richard was slain
With shot, complainedest his deth so sore,
Why ne had I now thy science and thy lore,
The Friday for to chiden, as did ye?
For on a Friday sothly slain was he."]
_The Lord Mayor a Privy Councillor._--Can any of your contributors
inform me whether the prefix "Right Honourable" is accorded to the title
of the Lord Mayor of London as a mere matter of courtesy, or whether our
Chief Magistrate is for the time being _ex officio_ a Privy Councillor,
and consequently "Right Honourable?"
If any authority for either position can be cited, so much the more
satisfactory.