Career
His best work was the finest produced by a native-born engraver working during the reign of Charles I.
Payne appears to have learnt engraving from William and Simon de Passe, and his manner very much resembles theirs. Two of his portraits—those of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford—are printed in frames engraved by William de Pass, and it is an indication that early on in his career that Payne cooperated with William de Passe on some projects. George Vertue wrote on the hearsay of John Sturt, another engraver, that Payne was a wastrel who loved drink more than work and was not reliable.
Foreign example, he alleges Payne had neglected to take up an invitation to attend the court of Charles I where he was to be offered the position of royal engraver.
His irregular way of life resulted in his early death through "indigent circumstances". This must have been about 1647, as Thomas Rawlins in his Calanthe, published in 1648, has an epitaph on Payne, as "lately deceased".