He was brought up a Roman Catholic, and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, afterwards residing in London at the Inner Temple. In 1600 he contributed to England's Helicon. He was a retainer of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and through his influence he secured a small place at the court of James I.
Bolton formulated a scheme for the establishment of an English academy, but the project fell through after the death of the king, who had regarded it favourably. He wrote a Life of King Henry II for Speed's Chronicle, but his Catholic sympathies betrayed themselves in his treatment of Thomas Becket, and a life by Dr John Barcham was substituted (Wood, Ath. Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 36).
The most important of his numerous works are Hypercritica (1618?), a short critical treatise valuable for its notices of contemporary authors, reprinted in Joseph Haslewood's Ancient Critical Essays (vol. ii., 1815); Nero Caesar, or Monarchie Depraved (1624), with special note of British affairs.
Bolton was still living in 1633, but the date of his death is unknown.
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