mbling Exemplified in the Murder of Wm.
Weare and the Trial and Fate of John Thurtell, the Murderer, and his
Accomplices_. London: Thomas Kelly, Paternoster Row. 1824. I have a very
considerable number of Weare pamphlets in my possession, one of them
being a record of the trial by Pierce Egan, the author of _Life in
London_ and _Boxiana_. Walter Scott writes in his diary of being
absorbed in an account of the trial, while he deprecates John Bull's
maudlin sentiment over 'the pitiless assassin.' That was in 1826, but in
1828 Scott went out of his way when travelling from London to Edinburgh,
to visit Gill's Hill, and describes the scene of the tragedy very
vividly. Lockhart's _Life_, ch. lxxvi.

[73] Elstree had already had its association with a murder case, for
Martha Reay, the mistress of John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich, was
buried in the church in 1779. She was the mother of several of the
Earl's children, one of whom was Basil Montagu. She was a beautiful
woman and a delightful singer, and was appearing on the stage at Covent
Garden, which theatre she was leaving on the night of 7th April 1779,
when the Reverend James Hackman, Vicar of Wiveton in Norfolk, shot her
through the head with a pistol in a fit of jealous rage. Hackman was
hanged at Tyburn, Boswell attending the funeral. Croft's supposed
letters between Hackman and Martha Reay, which made a great sensation
when issued under the title of _Love and Madness_, are now known to be
spurious (see ch. x. p. 115). Martha Reay was buried in the chancel of
Elstree Church, but Lord Sandwich, who, although he sent word to
Hackman, who asked his forgiveness, that 'he had robbed him of all
comfort in this world,' took no pains to erect a monument over her
remains. On 28th February 1913 the present writer visited Elstree in the
interest of this book. He found that the church of Martha Reay and
William Weare had long disappeared. A new structure dating from 1853 had
taken its place. The present vicar, he was told, has located the spot
where Weare was buried, and it coincides with the old engravings. Martha
Reay's remains, at the time of the rebuilding, were removed to the
churchyard, and lie near the door of the vestry, lacking all memorial.
The Artichoke Inn has also been rebuilt, and 'Weare's Pond,' which alone
recalls the tragedy to-day, where the body was found, has contracted
into a small pool. It is, however, clearly authentic, the brook, as
pictured in the old