_Abigail_ (Vol. iv., p. 424.; Vol. v., pp. 38. 94.).--As your
correspondents have not thrown much light upon this subject, I will here
mention that the use of this name in the sense alluded to has probably
originated from a "waiting gentlewoman" who figures in Beaumont and
Fletcher's comedy of _The Scornful Lady_. As this play appears from
Pepys's _Diary_ to have been a great favourite after the Restoration, it
was then most probably that the term came into use.