His father, William Breton, a London merchant who had made a considerable fortune, died in 1559, and his widow Elizabeth (née Bacon) married the poet George Gascoigne before her sons had attained their majority.

Nicholas was probably born at the "capitall mansion house" in Red Cross Street, in the parish of St Giles without Cripplegate, mentioned in his father's will.

He may have been the English poet named "Mr Briton" who visited the court of James VI of Scotland in 1588 or 1589 and received a gift of £160 Scots.

in A Poste with a Packet of Mad Letters (1603, enlarged 1637) may contain autobiographical details; the nineteenth letter of the second part contains a general complaint of many griefs, and proceeds as follows: Hath another been wounded in the warres, fared hard, lain in a cold bed many a bitter storme, and beene at many a hard banquet?

His religious poems are sometimes wearisome by their excess of fluency and sweetness, but they are evidently the expression of a devout and earnest mind.

His lyrics are pure and fresh, and his romances, though full of conceits, are pleasant reading, remarkably free from grossness.

His praise of the Virgin and his references to Mary Magdalene have suggested that he was a Roman Catholic, but his prose writings abundantly prove that he was an ardent Anglican.