rk, a well-known modern writer upon Heraldry, gives the following
definition of the word lozenge:

"Lozenge, a four-cornered figure, resembling a pane of glass in old
casements: some suppose it a physical composition given for colds, and
was invented to reward eminent physicians."

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