"Vile world that lifts them up to high degree,
And treads us down in grovelling misery,
England affords these glorious vagabonds
That carried erst their fardels on their backs
Coursers to ride on through the gazing streets,
Sweeping it in their glaring satin suits,
And pages to attend their masterships.
With mouthing words that better wits have framed,
They purchase lands and now esquires are made."
Act V., Sc. 1.
The satire in "Ratsey's Ghost" also may refer to Shakespeare, though Alleyn and others might be intended.
Freeman, in his "Epigrams," 1614, asks:
"Why hath our age such new-found 'gentles' found
To give the 'master' to the farmer's son?"
But his high praise of Shakespeare elsewhere shows he does not refer to him.
[82] John Davies of Hereford's "Microcosmus, The Civil Warres of Death and Fortune."