He was associated with the so-called Welbeck Academy by his position as chaplain (with duties as secretary) to William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Newcastle.
He was a contemporary as student of William Backhouse, who later showed him friendship at the end of the First English Civil War.
[5] At this period Payne did what he could to circulate the ideas and manuscripts of Hobbes in Oxford, and to reduce the hostility of Gilbert Sheldon.
[7] As reported later by Newcastle, one involved lapis prunellae (a mixture here of saltpetre and brimstone), as a form of indoor firework.
[8] He translated a work by Galileo, Della scienza mecanica, from Italian to English in 1636, from a manuscript copy.
[9] The previous year he had also translated the second half of Della misura dell'acque correnti of Benedetto Castelli, a work on fluid mechanics.