440 A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



owner, at that time, was very hospitable, but there is no evidence that 

 he ever remained there even over night. The room that is called 

 " Tom Moore's room " was really the dining room, as I was assured 

 by persons who had resided in the house before it was altered.* 



On this estate, farther back from the shore, in a grassy glade near 

 the caves, is the famous old Calabash tree under which Moore is said 

 to have composed some of his Bermuda poems, and to which he cer- 

 tainly refers in his notes and diary. 



In his notes to his poems he makes the following allusion to this 

 tree : — 



" How truly politic it is in a poet to connect his verse with well- 

 known and interesting localities, — to wed his song to scenes already 

 invested with fame, and thus lend it a chance of sharing a charm 

 which encircles them, — I have myself, in more than one instance, 

 very agreeably experienced. Among the memorials of this descrip- 

 tion, which, as I learn with pleasure and pride, still keep me remem- 

 bered in some of those beautiful regions of* the West which I visited, 

 I shall mention but one slight instance, as showing how potently the 

 Genius of the Place may lend to song a life and imperishableness to 

 which, in itself, it boasts no claim or pretension. The following 

 lines in one of my Bermuda poems : 



' 'Twas thus by the side of the Calabash tree, 

 With a few who could feel and remember like me ' 



still live in memory, I am told, on those fairy shores, connecting my 

 name with the noble old tree, which, I believe, still adorns it. One 

 of the few treasures (of any kind) I possess is a goblet formed of 

 one of the fruit-shells of this remarkable tree, which was brought 

 from Bermuda a few years since by Mr. Dudley Costello, and which 

 that gentleman very kindly presented to me."f 



* An old lady, only recently living in Bermuda, used to say that she could well 

 remember that when she was a young girl, living nearby, she used to see Tom 

 Moore rowing in his skiff, and coming to Walsingham, and that he was a hand- 

 some young fellow with curly, golden hair, "just the color of a sovereign." 

 This agrees well with contemporary descriptions of him. 



fin his published diary the following occurs: — "20th (March, 1834). A 

 beautiful present from Mr. Costello of a cup formed out of the calabash nut, 

 which he brought some yeai's ago for me from Bermuda. The cup very hand- 

 somely and tastefully mounted, and Bessie all delight with it." 



The verses referring particularly to the Calabash tree are as follows, in the 

 later editions of his poems : — 



" 'Twas thus in the shade of the Calabash-tree, 

 With a few who could feel and remember like me, 



