PAYNE, JoriN llowAnu, 1792-1852; b. New York. He showed great precocity, and at 13 years of age, while a clerk in a mercantile house in New York, secretly edited a weekly paper, The The,spia Mirror. la 1807 he 25 numbers of a periodical called The Pastime. Ile was at that time a student of Union college, but the bankruptcy of his father led to his departure from this institution before completing his collegiate course. Having evinced considerable dramatic ability, he decided to go on the stage, as the best means of supporting the family.' He made his debut at the Park theater, New York, Feb 24, 1800, as " supporting Norval." This enterprise proved an artistic and pecuniary success, and he subsequently appeared before large and enthusiastic audiences in Boston, Philadelphia. and Baltimore. In 1813 he sailed for England, and made his first appear ance in London at Drury Lane Theater as master Payne, " the American Hoscius," in his original part of Young Norval. his performances were well received by the public. After this he supported himself in England as actor, manager, and playwright., but owing to his lack of business ability was often in financial embarrassments. Ile adopted many plays from the French, and produced a number of original plays, including Drub', Therese, Virginias, mid Charles 11. But it is as the author of/ knee, Sweet Thome, (adapted
to an old Sicilian melody) which occurs in his play Clari, or the maid (f 31i'an, that Payne has acquired a lasting reputation. The publishers of this song are said to have cleared by it, for the benefit of Charles Kemble, the manager of the theater, 2,000 guineas within 2 years after its first publication; and by the year 1832 it was computed that more than 100.000 copies had been sold. In 1820-27, Payne edited in London a periodi cal, the Opera Glass, and returned to America in 1832. In 1841 he was appointed Ameri can consul at Tonis, recalled in 1845, and re-appointed in 1851. Be died there April 10. 1852, and the United States government has erected a monument over his remains in the cemetery of St. George at Tunis. There is also a bust of him in Prospect park, Brooklyn, erected through the efforts of his biographer Gabriel Harrison, in connection with the Faust club of that city. In 1815 he published a selection of juvenile poems, Lisping of the Muse; of his fugitive writings the best known are a series of papers on Our _Neglected Poets ; and an account of East Hampton, published in time Deinocratic Review.