Nicholas Breton was an English poet and novelist whose work mainly centred on pastoral, religious and satirical themes. He originated from the small parish of Layer Breton in Essex, hence his name, but his surname has sometimes been written down as Britton or Brittaine. He was born sometime during the year 1545 into a very wealthy family, probably living in the “Capitall Mansion House” in the London parish of St Giles without Cripplegate. His father, William Breton, had made his fortune as a London merchant but he died when Nicholas was 14. His mother remarried, this time to a poet, and it is perhaps here that Nicholas took his inspiration to become a poet himself.