462 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
the opening of this building ; and whose father likewise bore that 
Christian name.. Lampen seems to have been a resident. 
Itm pd Robart lampen for Pl*nnynge & vewinge 
the grounde for the water Course from mevie 
for vj daies { : ay ah 
Itm pd haywoode for vj Hive & newe writinge 
the vewe iiij* tymes . ; ‘ .  viij® vj4 
Itm pd nicholas Jeane for ilij* dayes : pe. 
Itm for theire dyett ; i ‘ .. Ye 
These entries are too clear and precise to require comment. They 
assert in words which it is not possible to interpret otherwise that 
Robert Lampen, with his assistants, laid out the leat and drew the 
working plans. The leat commences in Sheepstor, but so little 
beyond the Meavy boundary, that throughout the record the latter 
parish is assigned as its place of origin. 
The Receiver’s Accounts do not indicate that anything more was 
done upon the work in Blitheman’s mayoralty ; but there is an 
entry in the ‘‘ Black Book ”* under his name. 
Also this yere the composyton was made betweene the towne 
and S* Frances Drake for the bringinge of the River of Mewe to 
the towne for wch the towne have paied hym ije! aud more c! for 
wh he is to compounde wh the lls: of the land over w°h it 
runneth. 
If this, however, is really to be attributed to Bltheman’s 
mayoralty I hardly know how to account for the fact that the 
agreement itself was paid for in the following year (1590-91). 
Itm paied to m* heles man [Hele was now Recorder] 
for wrytinge owte of the articles of agreement 
betweene the towne and S* Francis Drake .  vjé viij4 
That the agreement or contract—for such is the meaning here of 
“composition” t—was made very late in Blitheman’s mayoralty, 
if at all, is plain; but it is absolutely certain that it was in 
* The “ Black Book” of the Corporation, so called from its colour, contains 
a list of Mayors and a register of local events. The “ White Book” records 
the bye-laws made by the Corporation. Both have also some miscellaneous 
entries. The Receivers’ Accounts, with the Black and White Books, together 
give a complete statement of the proceedings of the Corporation in its muni- 
cipal relations during the years noted. 
t See the use of the word for the agreement to pay Sir Thomas Wise, post. 
