98 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



happy person the late Marquess of Argyle I 

 had sent me some seeds, which I have sown 

 with tolerable success ". The character of the 

 geologic science of his day receives a curious 

 illustration when he says, ''That the fir and 

 pine will prosper well with us is more than 

 probable, because it is a kind of demonstration 

 that they did heretofore grow plentifully in 

 Cumberland, Cheshire, Stafford and Lanca- 

 shire, where multitudes of them are to this day 

 found intire, buried under the earth, though 

 supposed to have been overthrown and covered 

 so ever since the universal Deluge : for we will 

 not trouble our planter with M. Cambden's 

 query, whether there be not subterraneous trees 

 growing under the ground ? though something 

 to be touched anon might seem to excuse the 

 presumption of it; besides that divers earths, 

 as well as waters, have evidently a quality 

 of petrifying wood buried therein ". The 

 "something to be touched anon" was a tree- 

 fossil, found in a Roman quarry, which occa- 

 sioned much discussion. 



In this passage we get into touch with 

 Gerarde, who says, similarly: ''I have seen 

 |hese trees growing in Cheshire, Staffordshire 



