Though he was born in New York City in June 1791, and passed much of his childhood in East Hampton, Long Island, Payne spent most of his years wandering about the world, homeless, and more often than not, penniless. From the bankruptcy of his father while he was a student at Union College until Payne's death in Tunis, North Africa, where he served as American Consul, his fabulous career casts fiction in the shade.
As an actor, Payne made his debut in 1809 and for months was the rage of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and then Dury Lane in London. Later he become a playwright, with its in Paris and London. But because he lacked business ability, many of his varying successes ended in failure.
In 1821 Payne was sent to debtor's prison in England, and was released only after he managed to slip through the guards and sell one of his plays. It was with the profits from this play that he went gaily off to Paris to finish an opera little remembered today--but the music of which is still sung all over the civilized world. That opera was Clari, and the hit tune was the ever-remembered "Home, Sweet Home."
Today, the old gray-singled homestead at East Hampton where Payne spent his boyhood is maintained by the village as a shrine for it was probably this lowly thatched cottage about which the composer wrote so wistfully while homesick in Paris. To Americans everywhere--as it once was to John Howard Payne--this humble cottage is now cherished as "Home, Sweet Home."
- Roy B. Zuck, The Speaker's Quote Book (Christian Literature Crusade, 1997)
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