Nathan Drake (essayist)

Drake was apprenticed to a doctor in York in 1780, and in 1786 proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he took his degree as MD in 1789.

In 1790 he set up as a general practitioner at Sudbury, Suffolk, where he became an intimate friend with John Mason Good (died 1827).

[3] Drake's works include several volumes of literary essays and some papers contributed to medical periodicals.

However, Drake's prime work was Shaksperiana: or, Sketches of Shakespeare's character and genius... Now first collected... by Nathan Drake, etc.,[4] i. e. Shakespeare and his Times, including the Biography of the Poet, Criticisms on his Genius, and Writings; a new Chronology of his Plays; a Disquisition on the Object of his Sonnets; and a History of the Manners, Customs and Amusements, Superstitions, Poetry and Elegant Literature of his Age, 2 vols, 1817.

[3] The titles of its editions give the scope of this ample study, which has the merit, says G. G. Gervinus, "of having brought together for the first time into a whole the tedious and scattered material of the editions and the many other valuable labours of Tyrwhitt, Heath, Ritson, etc.