Cornwall is a county at the southwest extremity of England. It comprises a peninsula bounded by the English Channel to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west. A complex geological history has created a series of drowned river valleys which, combined with a variety of outcropping rock, has created a varied coastal landscape. Remnants of prehistoric settlement attest to early mineral exploration and cornish tin and copper mines were known to ancient Greek traders. Ruskin visited Cornwall with his parents in 1839 where he recalls that he 'expected the miners to regard [him] with admiration as the winner of the Newdigate...' ( Works, 35.216, 613). In a draft for Modern Painters II (1846) Ruskin suggests that Copley Fielding should visit and study the coast of Cornwall ( Works, 3.533n, 658).