James Payn (; 28 February 1830 – 25 March 1898) was an English novelist and editor. Among the periodicals he edited were ''

Chambers's Journal ''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'' was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was so ...

'' in Edinburgh and the ''

Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian literature, Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill, London, Cornhill in London.Laurel ...

'' in London.

Family

Payn's father, William Payn (1774/1775–1840), was clerk to the

Thames Commissioners The Thames Navigation Commission managed the River Thames in southern England from 1751 to 1866. In particular, they were responsible for installing or renovating many of the Canal lock, locks on the river in the 18th and early 19th centuries H ...

, and at one time treasurer to the county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. Payn was educated at Eton and then entered the Military Academy at Woolwich, but his health was unequal to a military career and he proceeded in 1847 to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. There he was among the most popular men and served as president of the Union. Before going to Cambridge he had published some verses in

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

's Journal, and while still an undergraduate put out a volume of ''Stories from Boccaccio'' in 1852 and one of ''Poems'' in 1853. In the year Payn left Cambridge, he met and soon married Miss Louisa Adelaide Edlin (born 1830 or 1831),ODNB biography, subscription required
Retrieved 3 December 2010.
/ref> sister of Judge Sir Peter Edlin, later chairman of the London Quarter Sessions. They had nine children, the third of whom, Alicia Isabel (died 1898), married ''The Times'' editor George Earle Buckle.

Editor and novelist

Payn then settled down in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

to a literary career and contributed regularly to ''

Household Words ''Household Words'' was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s. It took its name from the line in Shakespeare's '' Henry V'': "Familiar in his mouth as household words." History During the planning stages, titles orig ...

'' and ''

''. In 1858 he moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

to act as joint editor of the latter, and became its sole editor in 1860 with much success for 15 years. Meanwhile he moved to London in 1861. In the ''Journal'' he published in 1864 his most popular story, '' Lost Sir Massingberd''. Thereafter he was engaged in writing novels, including ''Richard Arbour or the Family Scapegrace'' (1861), ''Married Beneath Him'' (1865), ''Carlyon's Year'' (1868), ''A County Family'' (1869), ''By Proxy'' (1878), ''A Confidential Agent'' (1880), ''Thicker Than Water'' (1883), ''The Canon's Ward'' (1883), ''A Grape from a Thorn'', ''The Talk of the Town'' (1885), and ''The Heir of the Ages'' (1886). In 1883 Payn succeeded

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an Ethical Culture, Ethical movement activist. He was also the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the ...

as editor of the ''

'' and continued there until his health broke down in 1896. He was also literary adviser to Messrs Smith, Elder & Company. His publications included a ''Handbook to the English Lakes'' (1859), and various volumes of essays: ''Maxims by a Man of the World'' (1869), ''Some Private Views'' (1881), ''Some Literary Recollections'' (1884). His posthumous work ''The Backwater of Life'' (1899) revealed much of his personality through kindly, sensible reflections on familiar topics. He died in London on 25 March 1898. A biographical introduction to ''The Backwater of Life'' was provided by Sir Leslie Stephen.Leslie Stephen
"James Payn,"
''The Backwater of Life'', Smith, Elder & Co., 1899.

Works

Articles

"The Critic on the Hearth"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. V, January/June 1879.
"An Indo-Anglian Poet"
''The Gentleman's Magazine,'' Vol. CCXLVI, January/June 1880.
"Two Infant Phenomenons"
''The Gentleman's Magazine,'' Vol. CCXLVI, January/June 1880.
"Sham Admiration in Literature"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. VII, January/June 1880.
"The Pinch of Poverty"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. VII, January/June 1880.
"Success in Fiction"
''The North American Review,'' Vol. 140, No. 342, May 1885.
"On Conversation"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. XLII, July/December 1897.
"On Old Age"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. XLII, July/December 1897.

Short stories

"The Midway Inn"
''The Nineteenth Century,'' Vol. V, January/June 1879.
"Uncle Lock's Legacy"
''Short Stories,'' Vol. XI, September/December 1892.
"A Successful Experiment"
''Short Stories,'' Vol. XI, September/December 1892.
"Rebecca's Remorse"
In ''Short Stories from "Black and White"'', Chapman & Hall, 1893.
"A Faithful Retainer"
In ''Stories by English Authors,'' Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901.

Novels

*''The Foster Brothers'' (1859) *''The Bateman Household'' (1860) *''Richard Arbour: or, The Family Scapegrace'' (1861) *'' Lost Sir Massingberd'' (1864) *''Married Beneath Him'' (1865) *''The Clyffards of Clyffe'' (1866) *''Mirk Abbey'' (1866) *''Lights and Shadows of London Life'' (1867) *''Bentinck's Tutor, One of the Family'' (1868) *''Blondel Parva'' (1868) *''Carlyon's Year'' (1868) *''A County Family'' (1869) *''A Perfect Treasure'' (1869) *''Found Dead'' (1869) *''Gwendoline's Harvest'' (1870) *''Like Father, Like Son'' (1871) *''Not Wooed, but Won'' (1871) *''A Woman's Vengeance'' (1872) *''Cecil's Tryst'' (1872) *''At Her Mercy'' (1874) *''The Best of Husbands'' (1874) *''Walter's Word'' (1875) *''Fallen Fortunes'' (1876) *''Halves'' (1876) *''What He Cost Her'' (1877) *''Less Black Than We're Painted'' (1878) *''By Proxy'' (1878) *''Under One Roof'' (1879) *''A Confidential Agent'' (1880) *''From Exile'' (1881) *''A Grape from a Thorn'' (1881) *''For Cash Only'' (1882) *''Kit: A Memory'' (1883) *''Thicker Than Water'' (1883) *''The Canon's Ward'' (1884) *''The Talk of the Town'' (1885) *''The Luck of the Darrells'' (1885) *''The Heir of the Ages'' (1886) *''The Mystery of Mirbridge'' (1888) *''A Prince of the Blood'' (1888) *''The Eavesdropper'' (1888) *''The Burnt Million'' (1890) *''The Word and the Will'' (1890) *''A Modern Dick Whittington'' (1892) *''A Stumble on the Threshold'' (1892) *''A Trying Patient'' (1893) *''In Market Overt'' (1895) *''The Disappearance of George Driffell'' (1896) *''Another's Burden'' (1897)

Non-fiction

* ''Some Literary Recollections'', 1884.Riches, Christopher; Cox, Michael (2015)
"Payn, James"
In ''A Dictionary of Writers and their Works''. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 October 2022.

References

Attribution: *

External links

* * * *
Works by James Payn
at

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

Works by James Payn
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payn, James 1830 births 1898 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Presidents of the Cambridge Union People educated at Eton College Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Writers from London English male novelists 19th-century English novelists Victorian novelists English magazine editors English male short story writers Writers from Berkshire English essayists English travel writers English literary critics 19th-century English male writers Victorian short story writers Sensation novelists