142 THE WREN WITH LITTLE QUILL. 
courting the female. So, when Valentine asks Speed, 
“ How know you that I am in love ?” he gives, amongst 
other reasons, that he had learnt “ to relish a love-song 
like a robin-redbreast.”— Two Gentlemen of Verona , Act ii. 
Sc. i. 
The meaning of the following dialogue does not seem 
quite clear:— 
“ Hotspur. Come, sing. 
Lady Percy. I will not sing. 
Hotspur. ’ Tis the next way to turn tailor or be 
redbreast teacher .” 
Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. i. 
Possibly the allusion maybe to the “ recorder,” by which 
instrument birds were taught to sing.* Hotspur pays a 
high compliment to the vocal powers of Lady Percy by 
insinuating that her voice would excel the recorder; and 
as the bird most frequently taught to pipe is the bullfinch, 
it is not improbable that this was the bird intended under 
the title of “ redbreast,” and not the robin. 
Intimately associated with the robin, as we have before 
remarked, is— 
“ The wren, with little quill.” 
Midsummer Night's Dream—Song. 
It must often have struck others, as it has us, that for 
so small a throat, the wren has a wonderfully loud song. 
# See ante , p. 129. 
