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.