_Abigail_ (Vol. iv., p. 424.; Vol. v., pp. 38. 94. 450., Vol. viii., p.
42.).--Not having my "N. & Q." at hand, I cannot say what may have been
already told on this subject, but I think I can answer the Queries of your
last correspondent, H. T. RYLEY. There can be, I think, no doubt that the
familiar use of the name Abigail, for the _genus_ "lady's maid," is derived
from one whom I may call _Abigail the Great_; who, before she ascended King
David's bed and throne, introduced herself under the oft-reiterated
description of a "hand-maid." (See 1 Sam. xxv. 24, 25, 27, 28, 31.) I have
no _Concordance_ at hand, but I suspect there is no passage in Scripture
where the word _hand-maid_ is more prominent; and so the idea became
associated with the name _Abigail_. An _Abigail_ for a hand-maid is
therefore merely analogous to a _Goliath_ for a giant; a _Job_ for a
patient man; a _Samson_ for a strong one; a _Jezebel_ for a shrew, &c. I
need hardly add, that H. T. RYLEY'S conjecture, that this use of the term
_Abigail_ had any relation to the Lady Masham, is, therefore, quite
supererogative--but I may go farther. The old Duchess of Marlborough's
_Apology_, which _first_ told the world that Lady Masham's Christian name
was Abigail, and that she was a poor cousin of her own, was not published
till 1742, when all feeling about "Abigail Hill and her brother Jack" was
extinct. In fine, it will be found that the use of the term _Abigail_ for a
lady's maid was much more frequent _before_ the change of Queen Anne's Whig
ministry than _after_.