DRAKE, NATHAN (1766-1836), English essayist and physician, son of Nathan Drake, an artist, was born at York. He was apprenticed to a doctor in York in 1779, and in 1786 pro ceeded to Edinburgh University, where he took his degree as M.D. in 1789. In 1790 he set up as a general practitioner at Sud bury, Suffolk, where he found an intimate friend in Dr. Mason Good. In 1792 he removed to Hadleigh, Suffolk, where he died in 1836. His most important production was Shakespeare and his Times, including the Biography of the Poet; Criticisms on his Genius and Writings; a new Chronology of his Plays; a Disquisi tion on the Object of his Sonnets; and a History of the Manners, Customs and Amusements, Superstitions, Poetry and Elegant Literature of his Age (1817).