Feb. 15. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



125 



claimln<^ the share of his anceslor. I inchne to 

 adopt the former exphinatkin of the two here sug- 

 gested. The foruiof writ is iu the Register oi \V rits, 

 and corresponds exacllv with the abridged note ot 

 it in the Fine Roll. The " esnecia," mentioned in 

 the last entry (not extracted by E. V), is tlie 

 maiorat or senior heir's perqnisite of the capital 

 mansion. E. V. will pardon me for saying, that 

 his translation of the passages is a little dehcient 

 in ex.actness. As to E.V.'s query 4., does he 

 think it worth while to go further m search ot a 

 reason for callins the bedroom floor of Herstmon- 

 ceux Castle by^'the name of Bethlem, when the 

 early spellinij and common and constant pronun- 

 ciation of the word supply so ])lausilile an ex- 

 planation ? I myself knew, in my earliest days, 

 a hou>e where that department was constantly so 

 nicknamed. But there certainly may be a more 

 recondite origin of the name; and something m.ay 

 depend on the date at which he finds it hrst ap- 

 i- 1 E. Smirke. 



plied. 



Camden and Ciirwen Families (Vol.iii , p- 89.)-, 

 — Camden's mother was Elizabeth, daughter ot 

 Gvles Curwen, of Poulton Hall, in the county ot 

 Lancaster. In the "visitation" of Lancashire 

 made in 1613, it is stated that this Gyles Curwen 

 was " descended from Curwen of Workenton in 

 I CO. Cumberland ;" but the descent is not given, and 

 , 1 nresuine it rests merely on tradition. 



' Llewellyn. 



Joan Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance (^ ol. ii., 

 p 5i7)._Your correspondent Mac asks lor tlie 

 " 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 Uecember's snow. I am atraid Mac 

 will nol obtain what he now wishes lor. 



The earliest mention, that I have noticed, ot i 

 this popular old dance occurs in Heywood s play, I 

 A Woman hiltd with Kindness, 1600. Nicholas, 

 one of the cliaracters, says : 



" I have, ere now, deserved a cusl.ion ; call for the 

 Cushion Dance." 



The musical notes are preserved in The English 

 Dancing jWister, 1686; in The Harmmucmi, a 

 musical journal : in Davies Gilbert s Ch-istmas 

 Carols (211.1 edition) ; and in Cliappells JSatwnal 

 English Melodies. In the first-named work it is 

 called "Joan Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance, 

 an old Round Dance." 



In a curious collection of old songs and tunes, 

 Neder-Land/sche Gedenck-clank door Adnanum 

 Valerium, printed at Uaerlein in 1626, is preserved 

 a tune called "Sweet Margaret," wliu-h,^ upon 

 examination, proves to be the same as the Lnsltum 

 Dance. This favourite dance was well known in 

 Holland in the early part of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, and an interesting engraving ot it may be 



seen in the Emblems of John de Brunnes, printed 

 at Amsterdam in 1624. _ 



The last-named work (a copy of the edition ot 

 1661 of which is now before me) is exceedingly 

 curious to the lovers of our popular sports and 

 pastimes. The engravings are by William Pass, 

 C Blon, &c., and among them are representations 

 of Kiss in the Rins, the game of Forfeits, rolling 

 Snow-balls, the Interior of a Barber's Shop, with 

 citherns and lutes hanging against the wall, lor the 

 use of the customers, &c. 



Edward F. Kimbadlt. 



North Sides of Chiirchjards (Vol. ii., p. 93.).— 

 In an appendix to our registers I find the iollow- 

 in.' entry, where I conceive the backside means the 

 no^'rthside. Though now the whole of our church- 

 yard is so full that we have much difficulty in 

 finding any new ground, what we do find, how- 

 ever, is on the north side. 

 I " 1750, Oct. 23. One Mary Davies, of Pentrobin, 

 I single woman, though txcommunicated with the 

 ' Greater Excomimuncation, was on this day, within night, 

 on account of some particular circumstances alleged 

 by iiei°-hbours of credit in her favour (as to her re- 

 solvino-°to come and reconcile herself, and do penance 

 if she rt-covered), indulged by being interred on the 

 backside the church, but no service or tolling allowed. 



From this I conclude that here at least there 

 was no part of the churchyard left unconsecrated 

 for the burial of persons excommunicate, as one 

 of your correspondents suggests; or burial m such 

 place would have been no indulgence, as evidently 

 ft was regarded in this case. It would be interest- 

 inn- to ascertain from accredited instances how late 

 thts power of excommunication has been exercised, 

 and thereby how long it has really been in abey- 

 nnce. I expect the period would not, be found so 

 ereat as is generally imagined. 



Waldegrave Brewster. 



Antiquitas Smcidi Juoentus Mundi (Vol. ii., p. 466.). 



— Du^ald Stewart, in his Dissertation prefixed 



to the'' Euci/clopcedia Britunnica, ed. 7., p. 30., 



points out two passages of writers anterior to 



1 Loid Bacon, in which this thought occurs ihe 



! first is in his namesake, Roger Bacon, who died in 



I 1292: 



i " Quanto juniores tanto pcrspicaciores, quia juniorcs 

 posteriores snccessione temporuin ingrediiuUnr lahores 

 prlorum."— 0;j«« M 'jus, p. 9. ed. Jebb. 



The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon was not, liow- 

 I ever, printed until the last century, and could not 

 have been known to Lord Bacon unless he had 

 read it in manuscript. . .,. r. rt 



The second is from Liidovicus Vives, De Cans. 

 Corrupt. Art., lib. i., of which Mr. Stewart gives 

 j the following version : — 



' " The similitude which many have fancied between 

 tlie superiority of the moderns to the ancients, and the 

 elevation of a dwarf on the back of a giant, is alto- 



