_Herstmonceux Castle_ (Vol. ii., p. 477.).--E. V. asks for an explanation of certain entries in the Fine Rolls, A.D. 1199 and 1205, which I can, in part, supply. The first is a fine for having seisin of the lands of the deceased mother of the two suitors, William de Warburton and Ingelram de Monceaux. As they claim as joint-heirs or parceners, the land must have been subject to partibility, and therefore of socage tenure. If the land was not in Kent, the entry is a proof that the exclusive right of primogeniture was not then universally established, as we know it was not in the reign of Henry II. See _Glanville_, lib. vii. cap. 3. The next entry records the fine paid for suing out a writ _de rationabili parte_ against (_versus_) one of the above coheirs. The demandant is either the same coheir named above, viz. Ingelram, altered by a clerical error into Waleram,--such errors being of common occurrence, sometimes from oscitancy, and sometimes because the clerk had to guess at the extended form of a contracted name,--or he is a descendant and heir of Ingelram, {125} claiming the share of his ancestor. I incline to adopt the former explanation of the two here suggested. The form of writ is in the Register of Writs, and corresponds exactly with the abridged note of it in the Fine Roll. The "esnecia," mentioned in the last entry (not extracted by E. V.), is the majorat or senior heir's perquisite of the capital mansion. E. V. will pardon me for saying, that his translation of the passages is a little deficient in exactness. As to E. V.'s query 4., does he think it worth while to go further in search of a reason for calling the bedroom floor of Herstmonceux Castle by the name of _Bethlem_, when the early spelling and common and constant pronunciation of the word supply so plausible an explanation? I myself knew, in my earliest days, a house where that department was constantly so nicknamed. But there certainly _may_ be a more recondite origin of the name; and something may depend on the date at which he finds it first applied. E. SMIRKE. _Camden and Curwen Families_ (Vol. iii., p. 89.).--Camden's mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Gyles Curwen, of Poulton Hall, in the county of Lancaster. In the "visitation" of Lancashire made in 1613, it is stated that this Gyles Curwen was "descended from Curwen of Workenton in co. Cumberland;" but the descent is not given, and I presume it rests merely on tradition. LLEWELLYN. _Joan Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance_ (Vol. ii., p. 517.).--Your correspondent MAC asks for the "correct date" of the _Cushion Dance_. Searching out the history and origin of an old custom or ballad is like endeavouring to ascertain the source and flight of December's snow. I am afraid MAC will not obtain what he now wishes for. The _earliest_ mention, that I have noticed, of this popular old dance occurs in Heywood's play, _A Woman kill'd with Kindness_, 1600. Nicholas, one of the characters, says: