Nathan Drake

author

Nathan Drake

1766–1836

An English essayist and physician, he brought wide reading and sharp curiosity to subjects ranging from Shakespeare to the literature and manners of earlier centuries. His writing helped make literary history feel lively and approachable for general readers.

2 Audiobooks

Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 1 of 2] Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 1 of 2] Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

About the author

Born in York on January 15, 1766, he was the son of an artist and first trained in medicine, later earning his M.D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1789. He went on to practice as a physician in Hadleigh, Suffolk, while also building a reputation as a thoughtful man of letters.

He is best remembered for blending scholarship with readable prose. His books include Literary Hours and Shakspeare and His Times, a substantial study that gathered biographical, critical, and cultural material about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan world for early 19th-century readers.

That mix of doctor, essayist, and literary historian gives his work a distinctive character: careful and informed, but written with real enthusiasm for books and ideas. He died on June 7, 1836.