202 June — The Opening of ' Paris ina? 



of the master's hand. What a way of telling us that 

 it is late evening ! 



' It is the hour when from the boughs 

 The nightingale's high note is heard ; 



It is the hour when lovers' vows 



Seem sweet in every whispered word ; 



And gentle winds and waters near 



Make music to the lonely ear. 



Each flower the dews have lightly wet, 



And in the sky the stars are met, 



And on the wave a deeper blue, 



And on the leaf a browner hue, 



And in the heaven that clear obscure, 



So softly dark, and darkly pure, 



Which follows the decline of day 



As twilight melts beneath the moon away/ 



In this passage the ' nightingale's high note ' is the 

 dominant note of the whole composition, nor is there 

 any more perfect example in the poetic art of the im- 

 mense importance that a true master can give to a single 

 line. The bird is only mentioned once, and then with the 

 utmost brevity ; but that ' high note ' once sounded, fills 

 the whole exquisite description in the succeeding verses. 

 Byron seems to have been particularly impressed by 

 the height from which the voice of the bird announced 

 itself ; and here, no doubt, is one of the elements of its 

 effect ; just as it is in the bell's note from a cathedral 

 tower, or the Muezzin's voice from a minaret.* 



* Not to multiply quotations, I have omitted the beautiful passage 

 near the beginning of the ' Giaour,' but may remind the reader of the 

 well-known line, — 



' His thousand songs are heard on high? 



