"Come, sisters, and sing An hymne to our king, Who sitteth on high degree. The men at Whitehall, And the wicked, shall fall, And hey, then, up go we! 'A match,' quoth my sister Joice, 'Contented,' quoth Rachel, too; Quoth Abigaile, 'Yea,' and Faith, 'Verily,' And Charity, 'Let it be so.'" A curious error has been propagated by writers who ought to have known better. It is customarily asserted that abigail, as a cant term for a waiting-maid, only arose after Abigail Hill, the Duchess of Marlborough's cousin, became waiting-woman to the queen, and supplanted her kinswoman. Certainly we find both Swift and Fielding using the term after this event. But there is good reason for believing that the sobriquet is as old as Charles I.'s reign. Indeed, there can be no reasonable doubt but that we owe the term to the enormous popularity of Beaumont's comedy, "The Scornful Ladie," written about 1613, and played in 1616. The chief part falls to the lot of "Abigal, a waiting-gentlewoman," as the _dramatis personae_ styles her, the playwright associating the name and employment after the scriptural narrative. But Beaumont knew his Bible well. That Abigail at once became a cant term is proved by "The Parson's Wedding," written by Killigrew some time between 1645 and 1650. Wanton addresses the Parson: "Was she deaf to your report? _Parson._ Yes, yes. _Wanton._ And Ugly, her abigail, she had her say, too? _Parson._ Yes, yes." That this sentence would never have been written but for Beaumont's play, there can be no reasonable doubt. It was performed so late as 1783. In 1673, after yearly performances, it was published as a droll, and entitled "The False Heir." In 1742 it appears again under the title of "The Feigned Shipwreck." Samuel Pepys, in his Diary, records his visits to the playhouse to see "The Scornful Lady" at least four times, viz. 1661, 1662, 1665, and 1667. Writing December 27, 1665, he says-- "By coach to the King's Playhouse, and there saw 'The Scornful Lady' well acted: Doll Common doing Abigail most excellently." Abigail passed out of favour about the middle of the last century, but Mrs. Masham's artifices had little to do with it. The comedy had done its work, and Abigail coming into use, like Malkin two centuries before, as the cant term for a kitchen drab, or common serving wench, as is sufficiently proved by the literature of the day, the name lost caste with all classes, and was compelled to bid adieu to public favour.