"Instead of weapons, either band Seized on such arms as came to hand. And as famed Ovid paints th' adventures Of wrangling Lapithae and Centaurs, Who at their feast, by Bacchus led, Threw bottles at each others' head; And these arms failing in their scuffles, Attack'd with andirons, tonges, and shovels: So clubs and billets, staves and stones, Met fierce, encountering every sconce, And cover'd o'er with knobs and pains, Each void receptacle for brains." J. D. _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_. C. _Honorary Degrees_ (Vol. viii, p. 8.).--Honorary degrees give no corporate rights. Johnson never himself assumed the title of Doctor; conferred on him first by the University of Dublin in 1765, and afterwards in 1775 by that of Oxford. See Croker's _Boswell_, p. 168. n. 5., for the probable motives of Johnson's never having called himself Doctor. C. _Red Hair_ (Vol. vii., p. 616.).--The Danes are said to have been (and to be even now) a red-haired race. They were long the scourge of England, and to this possibly may be attributed in some degree the prejudice against people having hair of that colour. In Denmark, it is said, red-hair is esteemed a beauty.