Norfolk.
_Abigail_ (Vol. iv., p. 424. Vol. v., pp. 38. 94. 450.).--The inquiry
suggested in the first of the above references, "Whence, or when,
originated the application of Abigail, as applied to a lady's maid?" has
not yet, to my mind, been satisfactorily answered. It occurs to me that it
may have been derived from the notorious Abigail Hill, better known as Mrs.
Masham, a poor relative of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and by her
introduced to a subordinate place about the person of Queen Anne. She
rapidly acquired sufficient influence to supplant her benefactress. The
intrigues of the Tory party received sufficient furtherance from this
bedchamber official to effect ultimately the downfall of the Whig ministry;
and the use of the term by Dean Swift, of which your original Querist MR.
WARDEN speaks, would suffice to give currency and to associate the name of
so famous an _intriguante_ with the office which she filled. It must be
matter of opinion whether the Dean (as MR. W. thinks) employed the term as
_not new in those_ days, or as one which had _taken_ so rapidly in the
current conversation of the day, as to require but his putting it in print
to establish it in its new sense so long as the language shall be spoken or
written.