yne was
deeply involved in the machinations of Berkeley and that he continued to
stir up trouble in Ireland even after his return to England.

Back in England, possibly by mid-May, 1672, Payne must have plunged at
once into work for the theater. _The Fatal Jealousy_ was performed at
the Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden in August 1672 and _The Morning
Ramble_ was shown at the same theater three months later. Both plays
were performed before the King (Allerdyce Nicoll, _A History of
Restoration Drama_, 1923, p. 309). Payne's third and last play, _The
Siege of Constantinople_, which reached the stage in November 1674, is
of particular interest in view of his long association with the cause of
James, Duke of York. Payne found his plot in the _General Historie of
the Turkes_ by Knolles, but he altered history to produce a work which
would compliment James. It is significant that there is no prototype in
Knolles for Thomazo (James), the brother of the last Christian emperor
of Constantinople (Charles). At the end of the play the Turks conquer
the city (_sc._, the Dutch and London) and the Emperor is slain. Here
was a warning to Englishmen of what would happen if their double-dealing
"Lord Chancellor" (Shaftesbury)--the villain of the piece--were to
succeed in alienating the two royal brothers.

During the years 1678-1680 Payne's name dodges in and out of the
thousands of words written about the Popish plot. He was pretty
certainly a friend of Edward Coleman (Secretary to the Duchess of York)
who was executed for treason in December, 1678. After a hearing before
the Privy Council, Payne was held over for trial and imprisoned in the
King's Bench. Confinement did not in the least hinder him from giving
aid to the Catholic party in organizing its counter-attack. According to
_Mr. Tho. Dangerfields Particular Narrative_ (1679) he was one of the
chief devisers of the Presbyterian Plot and, as "chief Pen-man" for the
Catholics, the author of several "scandalous books" about their enemies.
Payne was again before the Privy Council in November 1679, but
eventually all the principals in the Catholic plots to discredit the
government were released.

After the accession of James II Payne kept more respectable company.
References to him during these years say nothing about any work for the
theater, but his pen was still busy--from 1685 to 1687 in the cause of
religious toleration. In 1685 the Duke of Buckingham published _A Short
Discour