The Sun. — 1851-12-12 (London, England)

ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.  The late Mr. Basil Montagu, Q.C., whose death, at the advanced age of 82, is recorded to have occurred at Boulogne-sur-Mer on the 27th ult., was formerly a Commissioner in Bankruptcy, and was so eminent a practitioner in such matters that for many years he was regarded as an oracle of the bankrupt laws. So little had been heard of him of late years that many of his quondam friends laboured under the impression that he had long ago discharged the debt of nature. It is not generally known that this distinguished lawyer was the fourth son of John, fourth Earl of Sandwich, by Miss Margaret Reay, a celebrated beauty of her day. The melancholy fate of this lady inspired the deepest public interest at the time, and the whole affair has been justly styled one of the most romantic and extraordinary love tales ever recorded, so much so that it has often struck us with astonishment that, in these novel-manufacturing and ready-reading days none of the novelists who cater so strangely at times for the public taste have seized upon the ample materials this case affords as the groundwork for a book of lasting and intense interest. Miss Margaret Resy, the mother of the late Mr. Basil Montagu, was the daughther of a stay-maker in Covent-garden, and served her apprenticeship to a mantua maker, in George's...court, St. John's-lane, Clerkenwell. Having, during her apprenticeship, attracted the attention of Lord Sandwich, he took her under his protection, and treated her from that period until her melanaholy sssassassination with the greatest tenderness and affection, which was sincerely returned by Miss Reay, until her introduction by his Lordship to ayoung ensign of the 68th Regiment, then in command of a recruiting party at Huntingdon, in the neighbourhood of which stands Hitchen. brook, the splendid mansion of the noble hsuse of Montagu. Mr. James Hackman, the wretched but highly gifted hero of thit sad nsrrative, from the first moment of his introduction, fell desperatelyhaffi rpdaesasihoinm increasedbytheinviwtaitthiontshhee received s in love with the mistress of his noble host, and p s table. With the object of continuingyo p:oapnohrdhi tsiutsLankoi assiduoustirnidcg tiotnisshleadgyo Lordship's engaging her affections aitnteddotfhtheleNhlorproe of ultimately attentions to h. holy orders obtained the living vert.on, in Norfolk, only a few months prior to the c crime which brought him to theomsmc iffssoilodn of that Miss Reay had given some encouragement to h. That fiery Passion cannot be denied ; the tenor of their correspondence clearly proves it, but gratitude towards the Earl and prudential motives repecting the welfare of her children induced her afterwards to refuse the offer of the Rey. Gentleman's hand, and to intimate the  necessity which existed for discontinuing his visits for their mutual interest and their peace of mind. Stung to the quick by this sudden an unexpected termination of his long cherished and most ardent passion, no doubt can exist in the minds of those who have carefully perused the highly interesting correspondence between the parties, publisned many years ago by Mr. Hubert Croft, in a volume entitled " Love and Madness," that Mr. Hackman's mind became unsettled, and without meditating a crime which, properly speaking, could scarcely be fairly classed in the catetory of murder, there is no doubt that he became weary of his own life ; and finally, though without distinct premeditation, determined that she whom he loved so passionately should share his fate. At this time the Rev. Mr. Hackman was lodging in Duke's-conrt, St. Martin's-lane, and the fatal day, April 7, 1799, was occupied all the morning in reading Blair's Sermons ; but in the evening, as he was walking towards the Admiralty, he saw Miss Reay pass in her coach, accompanied by Signora Galli. He followed and discovered that she alighted at Covent-garden Theatre, whither she went to witness the performance of Love in a Village. Mr. Hackman returned to his lodgings, and arming himself with a brace of pistols, wedt back to the theatre, and when the performance was over, as Miss Reay was stepping into her coach, he took a pistol in each band, one of which he discbarped at her and killed her on the spot, and the other at himself, which did not, however, take effect. He then beat himself about the head with the butt-end of the pistol in order to destroy himself, but was eventually, after a dreadful struggle, secured and carried before Sir John Fielding, who committed him to Tothillfields Bridewell, and afterwards to Newgate, where he was narrowly watched to prevent his committing suicide. He was shortly after tried at the Old Bailey, before the celebrated Justice Blackstone, author of the " Commentaries," found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn on the 19th of the month, where he suffered the last penalty of the law with all the firmness becoming a gentleman and a Christian who felt that he had committed an irreparable injury, and that his life was justly forfeited to the outraged laws of his country, although ho persisted to the last that the idea of murdering the woman he so fondly loved originated in the frenzy of the moment, and never was or could have been premeditated. One circumstance in this slight narrative which redounds so highly to the honour of the party most aggrieved in this sad affair must not be omitted. Lord Sandwich with a noblemindedness rarely exemplified in such extreme cases of injury to the pride and sensibility of man, wrote to Mr. Hackman after sentence of death was passed upon him : .  . . " 7th April, 1779. " If the murderer of Miss - wishes to live, the man he has most injured will use all his interest to prooure his life."  The prisoner replied the same day— " Condemned Cell in Newgate. " The murderer of her whom he preferred, far pro• ferred, to life, suspects the hand from which he has just received such an offer as he neither desires nor deserves. His wishes are for death, not for life. One wish he has —could he be pardoned in this world by the man he has most i❑jured—oh, my Lord, when I meet her in another world, enable me to tell her—if departed spirits are not ignorant of earthly thi❑gs—that you forgive us both, and that you will be a father to her dear children." It is almost needless to observe that the Noble Earl did faithfully comply with the dying wishes of the wretched man, and was a good and generous father to all the children of this connexion, of whom the learned gentleman just deceased was one.—Morning Post.