V.
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.
J. S. WARDEN.
Nuremberg Token, or Counter (Vol. v., pp. 201. 260.).
—G. H. K. appears to consider the object of H. C. K.'s Query a tradesman's token. This is by no means the case. It is a jetton, or counter, such as was formerly much in use for casting accounts, on a principle very similar to that of the abacus. They are found in vast numbers in England, but were principally manufactured at Nuremberg, where a large trade in them must have been carried on. The greatest manufacturers of the "Rechenpfennige" were the members of the families of Schultz, Laufer, and Krauwinckel. Of the three Krauwinckels, the productions of Hans are most numerous. Many of them have legends of a moral or religious character, as "Gottes Segen macht reich," God's blessing maketh rich; "Gott allein die Ehre sey," To God alone be the glory; "Heut rodt, Morgen todt," To-day red, to-morrow dead, &c. The date 1601 occurs on several of those of Hans K., with mythological devices.—See Snelling's Treatise on Jettons, or Counters.
J. E.
The legend on the counter described signifies
"John Kravwinckel in Nuremberg."
℞ "God's kingdom remains always."