As a historical referent of interest Barnabe Googe in the 1560's used the expression this way:

"Nobylitie begins to fade, and Carters up do sprynge," he cries; the chief estate is in the hands of Sir John Straw and Sir John Cur, who, though they think themselves noble, are but fish which, "bred up in durtye Pooles, wyll ever stynke of mudde." (Eglogs, Epytaphes and Sonettes (1563))