Payne Fisher

Payne Fisher (1616–1693) was an English poet.

Fisher was the son of Payne Fisher, one of the captains in the royal life guard while Charles I was in Oxfordshire, and grandson of Sir William Fisher, knight. He was born at Warnford, Hampshire, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Sir Thomas Neale. He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, in Michaelmas term, 1634; three years later he moved to Magdalene College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he first developed 'a rambling head' and a turn for verse-making. He left the university suddenly, around 1638, and entered the army in the Netherlands. There he fought in the defence of Boduc.

Returning to England before long, he enlisted as an ensign in the army raised (1639) by Charles I for the Bishops' War, and during this campaign made acquaintance with the cavalier poet Richard Lovelace. Subsequently Fisher took service in Ireland, where he rose to the rank of captain, and, returning about 1644, was made, by Lord Chichester's influence, sergeant-major of a foot regiment in the royalist army. By Prince Rupert's command he marched at the head of three hundred men to relieve York.

Fisher was present at Battle of Marston Moor, but found himself on the losing side. He deserted the royalist cause after the battle, and went to London, where he lived as best he could by his pen.

Fisher's character was too notorious for him to gain favour by his flatteries, and he lived poor and out of favour after the Restoration.

Fisher died in poverty in a coffee-house in the Old Bailey 2 April 1693, and was buried 6 April in a yard belonging to the church of St. Sepulchre's. William Winstanley summed up Fisher's character in the following words: 'A notable undertaker in Latin verse, and had well deserved of his country, had not lucre of gain and private ambition overswayed his pen to favour successful rebellion.' Winstanley adds that he had intended to 'commit to memory the monuments in the churches in London and Westminster, but death hindered him'.

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