THE South-west corner of Devonshire is admirably suited for a great naval station. Few portions of our coasts equal it in the facilities offered for works of such a description. Plymouth Sound may be viewed as an estuary to the Tamar and the Plym. At any rate, we there find a noble expanse of water, sheltered in on the east, west, and north from winds and storms. As we approach the northern portion of this harbour or sound, we find it narrowed by the promontory of Mount Batten on the east, and the still bolder promontory of Mount Edgcumbe on the west. Arrived at the northern limit, where the citadel and Hoe of Plymouth form a termination to the Sound due northward, we find the inlet of the Catwater in the north east, leading to the quays of Plymouth and to the River Plym; while in the north-west we have the remarkable passage or strait between Cremill Point and Mount Edgcumbe. Having passed through this strait, we come at once into the magnificent harbour of the Hamoaze, where a secure anchorage is found for whole fleets of men-of-war; here, too, are seen the extensive works of the Devonport Dockyard, Victualling-yard, Steam Dock, and other government establishments. Proceeding onwards towards Saltash, we come to the River Tamar, the lower portion of which is so broad as to form a harbour for three miles. The bays and inlets all around and within the Sound and the Hamoaze are so numerous, as to afford remarkable facilities for the construction of works connected with ship-building, fortifications, naval defence, and maritime commerce. Plymouth Sound, the Hoe, the Citadel, and the Catwater, are shown in our Cuts Nos. 1 and 2.

But this nook of the county has other claims also to our attention. There are around it scenes of great loveliness and beauty. We may take our departure from the sea-margin, with its bustle of shipping and commerce, and in a few minutes find ourselves surrounded by all the attractions of rivers and valleys, and of a fruitful agricultural district. It is, too, within a short distance from the rich mining districts of Cornwall on the one hand, and the vast storehouse of granite at Dartmoor on the other.

It is our object in the present sheet to give a slight sketch not only of Plymouth and Devonport as maritime towns, but of some of the varied scenes by which those towns are surrounded: including a peep at one or two of the Cornish mines.

GENERAL SKETCH: LAND AND SEA. Devonport has possessed the honours of a town for comparatively a few years only. Its original importance was due wholly to the existence of the

Government ship-yard. Groups of houses for the workmen and the officers gradually grew up around the yard, and there formed a town or hamlet to which the name of Plymouth Dock was given; but so large did the population become, and so important the place generally, that it has within our own generation been made a distinct town, by the name of Devonport. A wide space once separated the two towns; but as in many other instances-well enough known to Londoners-bricks and mortar have nearly taken the place of the green grass.

As at present exhibited to our view, the entire metropolis of the south-west (if we may so term it) consists of five parts-Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, Stoke Damerel, and Morice Town; and these are separated or indented by those numerous inlets and bays which, as we before remarked, give so much maritime value to the whole district. Let us endeavour to sketch a map of the place; and to do this we will begin at the north-east corner of Plymouth Sound. Here we find a kind of æstuary called the Catwater, into which the River Lara or Plym empties its waters, approaching it from the north-east. On the south-east of this river (which is generally called the Plym in its upper part, and the Lara, Laira, or Lairy, in its lower) near the mouth, are the quarries of Oreston, of which we shall have somewhat to say byand-by: and on the north-west is an elevated peninsula called Catdown, which is connected with the Oreston side of the river by an elegant bridge. If Plymouth should ever extend much beyond its present limits on the south-east, Catdown will afford some fine sites for terraces and crescents; but as yet the hod and the trowel have not done much there. The peninsula of Catdown is bounded on the east and south-east by the Lara, on the south and south-west by the Catwater, and on the north-west by Sutton Pool. Once arrived at Sutton Pool, and we have no longer any doubt of our whereabouts. Plymouth and its quays and ships, sailors and boatmen, slop-sellers and marine store-dealers, warehouses and wharfs, public-houses and eating-houses, mud and dirt-all are before us. The busy part of Plymouth lies around Sutton Pool, which forms its harbour. Inland or northward extend long ranges of streets, forming the centre of the town; while at the south-west corner of Sutton Pool, where the entrances both to Sutton Pool and to the Catwater branch out of the Sound, is situated the commanding hill on which the citadel or fort is built. Alas for the hostile ship that should attempt to pass this citadel into either of the two inlets here named!

The citadel is bounded on the west by the fine wide open elevated expanse called the Hoe; and this again