treated her from that period until her assassination, with
the greatest tenderness and affection. He introduced to her a young ensign
of the 68th Regiment, then in command of a recruiting party at Huntingdon,
in the neighborhood of the mansion of the Montagues. Mr. Hackman from the
first moment was desperately in love with her, and his passion increased
with the daily opportunities afforded by invitations he received to Lord
Sandwich's table. With the object of continuing his attentions, and the
hope of ultimately engaging her affections, he quitted the army, and,
taking orders, obtained the living of Wiverton, in Norfolk. That Miss Reay
had given him some encouragement, is proved by the tenor of their
correspondence; but prudential motives induced her afterwards to refuse
the offer of his hand, and to intimate a necessity for discontinuing his
visits. Stung by this unexpected termination of his long-cherished
expectations, Hackman's mind became unsettled; on the 7th of April, 1779,
he 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, where she went to witness _Love in
a Village_. He returned to his lodgings, armed 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 hand, one
of which he discharged at her, and killed her on the spot, and the other
at himself, but it did not take effect. He then beat his head with the
butt of the pistol, to destroy himself, but was, after a struggle, secured
and carried before Sir John Fielding, who committed him to Bridewell, and
he was shortly after tried at the Old Bailey, before the celebrated
Justice Blackstone, found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn on the 19th of the
month.

Basil Montagu was born in 1770, and received his education at the Charter
House. He was called to the English bar by the Society of Gray's Inn, the
19th of May, 1798, and soon obtained considerable practice as a
conveyancer. It was, however, by his legal authorship and reporting that
he became particularly distinguished in the profession. His various works
and reports on the subject, principally of the Law of Bankruptcy, were of
high estimation and lasting utility. In 1801, he produced his _Summary of
th