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Payne (JOHN an English poet)

JOHN, an English poet and Oriental scholar; born in London, Aug. 23, 1842. He studied for the bar, and in 1867 became a solicitor. Among his works are: "The Masque of Shadow" (1870); "Intaglios" (1871); "Songs of Life and Death" (1872); "Lautrec" (1878); a translation of the "Poems of Francis Villon" (1878); "New Poems" (1880); "Francis Villon-a Biographical Study" (1881); a close and scholarly translation of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," with the addition of those volumes of "Arabian Tales" not included in the common (1882); and a translation of the "Rubáiyát" of Omar Khayyám, including over 800 quatrains, several hundred more than had been before translated (1897). He also made a translation of Dante's "Divina Commedia," which was unpublished. He translated and adapted a number of works including "Poems of Hafiz" (1901); "Flowers of France" (1907) etc. Died 1916. co.