The incentive for preparing this book about the lives of two eighteenth century adventurers came out of a project to restore, in 1994, the Devon Historic Buildings Trust's "Haldon Belvedere" or "Lawrence Tower." The building is a remnant of an estate that bubbled with activity during the second half of the seventeeth century following the return to England from India of Major General Stringer Lawrence and Sir Robert Palk. The building is open to the public and visitors often ask about the history of the building and the reason for its existence and they always wish to know more than is available from current easily- accessible literature.