Both Uses of
primeval
in
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- Far behind the corner of the house—which rose like a geranium bloom against the subdued colours around—stretched the soft azure landscape of The Chase—a truly venerable tract of forest land, one of the few remaining woodlands in England of undoubted primaeval date, wherein Druidical mistletoe was still found on aged oaks, and where enormous yew-trees, not planted by the hand of man grew as they had grown when they were pollarded for bows.†
Chpt 1unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling option. The British more commonly use primeval which is also used by Americans.
- Above them rose the primeval yews and oaks of The Chase, in which there poised gentle roosting birds in their last nap; and about them stole the hopping rabbits and hares.†
Chpt 1 *primeval = ancient
Definition:
ancient (of or from a long time ago); or having existed from ancient times