The Sun. — 1851-12-13 (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 !egarded as an oracle ofthe bankrupt laws. So little had beenia heard of him of late years that many of his quonLig agofri ds.laboured under the impression that he bad discharged the debt of nature. It is not generaiiv 4 known that this distinguished lawyer was the fourth se Miss Margaret u of_ John, fourth Earl of Sandwich, by The melancholy fate a celebrated beauty of her day. styled one e, public interest at ttheeof'this lady inspired the deepest been justly traordinary I)ve tales ever the most romantic and exrecorded, so much so that it has often struck us witl astonishment that, in these n:,vA-oaailuracturing andaetrready-reading days none of the novelists who c g r opu nod twl 1 e the public taste have sAz,,,d u soo strangely at times for this case affords as the Montagu,Margaret Reny, ample materials k_ for a book of lasting and intense interezt.niAsiliis7 the hiothor (,f the late Mr. daughter of a stay-maker in served bar apprenticeship to a John's-lane, Clerkeeer4cliln Crnoaviientutrira (17 and George's-court, St. John Having, during her apprenticeship, attracted - - -f Lord Sandwich, he took protection, and treated her ,til her melancholy assassination Lderness and affection, which was y Miss Reay, until her introductn ayoung ensign -of the 68th Re.sand of a recruiting party at Hun. bourhood of which stands Ritchenmansion; of the noble house of  Montagu. Mr. James Hackman, the wretched but highly gifted hero of this sad narrative, from the first moment of his introduction, fell desperately in love with the mistress of his noble host, and his passion increased with the daily opportunities afforded him by the invitations he received to his Lordship's table. With the object of continuing his assiduous attentions to this lady and the hope of ultimately engaging her affections, he quitted the army, and taking holy orders obtained the living of Wiverton, in Nora few months prior to the commission of that folk, only which brought him to the scaffold. That Miss Reay had given some encouragement to his 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 Rev. 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 and unexpected termination of his long cherished and most ardent passion, no I doubt can exist in the minds of those who have cares fully perused the highly interesting correspondence between the parties, published many years ego 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 category ("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 bis fate. At this time the Rev. Mr. Hackman was lodging in Duke's-court, 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, went 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 discharged 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 after wards 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 he 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 procure his life." The prisoner replied the same day— " Condemned Cell in Nowgate. " The murderer of her whom he preferred, far preferred, 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 ho has —could he be pardoned in this world by the man he has most injured—oh, my Lord, when I meet her in another world, enable me to tell her—if departed spirits are not ignorant of earthly things—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.