Thomas Freeman, 1614 (Fl. 1614)
“To Master W. Shakespeare.”
Shakespeare, that nimble Mercury thy brain
Lulls many hundred Argus-eyes asleep,
So fit, for all thou fashionest thy rein,
At th’ horse-foot fountain thou hast drank full deep,
Vertues or vices theme to thee all one is:
Who loves chaste life, there’s Lucrece for a Teacher:
Who but read lust there’s Venus and Adonis,
True model of a most lascivious leacher.
Besides in plays thy wit winds like Meander:
Whence needy new-composers borrow more
Than Terence doth from Plautus or Menander.
But to praise thee aright I want thy store:
Then let thine own works thine own worth upraise,
And help t’ adorn thee with deserved Bays.
Runne, and a Great Caste. The Second Bowle. (Being the second part of a Rubbe, and a Great Cast, 1614.) Epigram 92, Sig. K2, back.