se upon the Reasonableness of Men's having a Religion or Worship
of God_. A portion of this pamphlet had been written as a letter to
Payne. When Buckingham's work brought on a pamphlet war, Payne (together
with William Penn) rushed to his defence. The debate grew hotter when
James made the first Declaration of Indulgence in April 1687. Payne was
one of the chief controversialists in the war of words that followed.
Another literary friend of these years, and an extravagant admirer of
his devotion to the Stuarts, was Aphra Behn. She dedicated her _Fair
Jilt_ to Payne in 1688 in terms which suggest that he had favored her in
tangible ways.

With the deposition of James, the years of Payne's greatest activity
begin. The story of his life for the next twelve years is intricate and
exciting, for he has now moved out of the company of writers into the
dark world of secret agents and prison-guards. Though he was confined in
the Fleet by January 1688/89, Payne went boldly ahead with plans for
what would be the first Jacobite conspiracy, the Montgomery Plot. By
some means he contrived to escape to Scotland, where his plans had, of
course, more fertile soil in which to grow. Once more in custody, he was
moved from one prison to another, but the Privy Council was incapable of
persuading the Scottish authorities to "put the rogue to it." As more
and more evidence came out showing how deeply involved Payne was in the
Montgomery Plot, the Scottish Privy Council finally was prevailed upon
to put Payne to the torture. On Dec. 10, 1690, he bore the pain of two
hours under thumb and leg screws with such fortitude that some of the
Councilors were "brangled" and believed that his denials must be the
words of an honest man. The Earl of Crawford, one of the witnesses to
this, the last occasion in Britain in which a political prisoner was
tortured, was so moved that he reported to the Earl of Melville that
such manly resolution could come only from a deep religious fervor:
"[Payne] did conceive he was acting a thing not only generous towards
his friends and accomplices, but likewise so meritorious, that he would
thereby save his soule, and be canoniz'd among the saints" (_Letters ...
to George Earl of Melville_, Bannatyne Club, 1843, pp. 582-3).

For nearly eleven years more Payne was moved from one Scottish prison to
another, while the Scottish Privy Council sought to turn him over to the
English and the Privy Council in London endeavored to