Plutarch says, in the Life of Theseus, that at Megara, an ancient town of Greece, the tombstones, under which the bodies of the Amazons lay, were shaped after that form, which some conjecture to be the cause why ladies have their arms on lozenges.
Ruby.
The Crescent (Vol. viii., p. 319.).—Be so good as to insert in "N. & Q.," for the information of J. W. Thomas, that the Iceni (a people of England, whose territory consisted of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, &c.) struck coins both in gold and silver; having on their reverses crescents placed back to back generally, except where a rude profile is on a few of them.
Two of the gold coins have fallen into my possession; one of which, found at Oxnead in this county, I supplied to the British Museum some years since. Twelve of the silver coins are figured on a plate in Part LVII. of the Numismatic Chronicle. Mr. Thomas observing (at p. 321.) he has no work on numismatics, induces me to make this communication to him through your very useful and instructive publication.
Goddard Johnson.
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.
Balliolensis.
Handbook to the Library of the British Museum (Vol. viii., p. 511.).—Neither Lord Seymour, nor Mr. Bolton Corney, nor Mr. Richard Sims, can with justice claim originality in the suggestion carried out by the latter gentleman in the publication of his Handbook to the Library of the British Museum.
In my own collection is a book entitled,—