lish translation of Thomas à Kempis's ‘Imitatio.’ He wrote and published: 1. ‘New Tables of Interest,’ oblong 16mo, London, 1758, a useful compilation, for which Johnson wrote a preface. 2. ‘A Letter occasioned by the Lord Bishop of Gloucester's [Warburton] “Doctrine of Grace,”’ 8vo, London, 1763 (ib. v. 620). An anonymous ‘Letter to a modern Defender of Christianity,’ 12mo, London, 1771, attributed to a John Payne in Halkett and Laing's ‘Dictionary,’ p. 1373, may be by the accountant-general. His letters to Dr. Thomas Birch, extending from 1752 to 1754, are in Additional MS. 4316 in the British Museum. He died unmarried at Lympston, near Exeter, on 10 March 1787 (Probate Act Book, P.C.C. 1787; will registered in P.C.C. 142, Major; information from the Bank of England).
Payne has been confused with another John Payne (fl. 1800), compiler, who also began his career as a publisher in Paternoster Row. After 1760 he entered into partnership with Joseph Johnson [q. v.], and continued with him until 1770, when nearly the whole of their property was consumed by fire (Timperley, pp. 836, 838 n.) Payne then betook himself to Marsham Street, Westminster, and turned author. He is described as an ‘indefatigable manufacturer’ of books, issued in weekly numbers under the high-sounding names of ‘George Augustus Hervey,’ ‘William Frederick Melmoth,’ &c. (Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, p. 265). Under the former pseudonym he issued a creditable ‘Naval, Commercial, and General History of Great Britain, from the earliest time to the rupture with Spain in 1779,’ in 5 vols. 8vo (Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors, ii. 117). His own avowed compilations, the first two of which were published by Johnson, are: 1. ‘Universal Geography,’ 2 vols. fol. London, 1791, with maps and copperplates, a work which occupied him eight years. 2. ‘An Epitome of History,’ 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1794–5 (a second edition of vol. i. appeared in 1795). 3. ‘Geographical Extracts,’ 8vo, London, 1796. 4. ‘A concise History of Greece,’ 8vo, London, 1800, of which the first volume only was issued (Reuss, Reg. of Authors, 1790–1803, ii. 177).
[Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Croker, 1848, pp. 58 n., 78, 79; authorities cited in the text.]
PAYNE, JOHN WILLETT (1752–1803), rear-admiral, youngest son of the lieutenant-governor of St. Christopher's, was born there in 1752. He received his early education at a private school at Greenwich, in 1767 entered the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, after two and a half years' study joined the Quebec frigate as an ‘able seaman,’ and went out to the West Indies. There he was moved into the Montagu, flagship of Rear-admiral Man, and continued in her two years and a half. He was then moved into the Falcon sloop; returned to England in 1773; joined the Rainbow with Commodore Thomas Collingwood, and, after some time on the coast of Guinea, again went to the West Indies, returning to England in the beginning of 1775. On 10 May he passed his examination; towards the end of the year was appointed to the Bristol; went out to the coast of North America, took part in the attack on Sullivan's Island, and proceeded to New York [see Parker, Sir Peter, (1721–1871)]. There he was moved by Howe into his flagship the Eagle, and on 9 March 1777 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Brune frigate, with Captain James Ferguson, a man equally distinguished for his gallantry, ability, and eccentricity. Between Ferguson and Payne there arose a warm friendship, which lasted till Ferguson's death in 1786. Early in 1778 Payne was moved into the Phœnix with Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807) [q. v.], and was present with the squadron under Lord Howe in the defence of Sandy Hook and off Rhode Island in July. He returned to England in the Roebuck, and in April 1779 was appointed to the Romney, one of the Channel fleet under Sir Charles Hardy the younger [q. v.], and afterwards bearing the broad pennant of Commodore George Johnstone [q. v.] Payne was appointed by Johnstone commander of the Cormorant on 6 Nov. 1779, and on 8 July 1780 was posted to the Artois, a magnificent French frigate which was captured by the squadron.
In the following month a complaint was made by the Portuguese government that while lying in the Tagus the Artois had entered a considerable number of Portuguese subjects; that these men were forcibly detained, and that an attempt to release them had been resisted by Payne's orders. Payne showed that the complaint was unfounded, and was probably concocted in the desire to sow dissension between England and Portugal. The Portuguese government admitted the mistake, which they attributed to the interpreter. In August 1781 Payne was appointed to the Enterprise, a 28-gun frigate, which he commanded on the Jamaica station, cruising with marked success against the enemy's trade. In December 1782 he was moved by Admiral Pigot into the 50-gun ship Leander, and in her, near Guadeloupe, on the night of 18 Jan. 1783, fought a severe
