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A Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the Eighteenth Century
One April evening in 1779, Martha Ray, the pretty mistress of a famous aristocrat, was shot dead at point-blank range by a young clergyman who then attempted to take his own life. Instead he was arrested, tried and hanged. In this fascinating new book, John Brewer, a leading historian of eighteenth-century England, asks what this peculiar little story was all about. Then as now, crimes of passion were not uncommon, and the story had the hallmarks of a great scandal--yet fiction and fact mingled confusingly in all the accounts, and the case was hardly deemed appropriate material for real history. Was the crime about James Hackman's unrequited love for the virtuous mother of the Earl of Sandwich's illicit children? Or was Ray, too, deranged by passion, as a popular novel suggested? In Victorian times the romance became a morality tale about decadent Georgian aristocrats and the depravity of wanton women who consorted with them; by the 1920s Ray was considered a chaste mistress destroyed by male dominance and privilege. Brewer, in tracing Ray's fate through these protean changes in journalism, memoir, and melodrama, offers an unforgettable account of the relationships among the three protagonists and their different places in English society--and assesses the shifting balance between storytelling and fact, past and present that inheres in all history.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 8, 2015
As another reviewer stated, the book started off strong and then dissolved into a literary comparison/social studies/thesis-dissertation which sort of leaves the reader wondering what happened to the "murder" portion of the book (that is dealt with fairly perfunctorily at the beginning). At times while reading I began to feel as though I were sitting through one of my less engaging lit classes (and I almost always enjoyed lit classes).
At the end of the day, if you are interested in reading this book for the murder, read the first couple chapters and you'll be done, no need to progress into the world of here-say, historical-fiction, and morality discussions that resulted because of it. Unfortunately, but as to be expected, there is no new information regarding the motives of the murder or just how culpable Martha Ray herself was in her own murder.
There is a wealth of information regarding the Georgian period however, so that helped me give it an extra star.
At the end of the day, if you are interested in reading this book for the murder, read the first couple chapters and you'll be done, no need to progress into the world of here-say, historical-fiction, and morality discussions that resulted because of it. Unfortunately, but as to be expected, there is no new information regarding the motives of the murder or just how culpable Martha Ray herself was in her own murder.
There is a wealth of information regarding the Georgian period however, so that helped me give it an extra star.
February 15, 2018
John Brewer, an esteemed historian of eighteenth century England, is the author of A Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the Eighteenth Century. This book is based around a very short series of events involving love, scandal, and murder. It investigates the killing and attempted suicide by deciphering and analyzing the ever changing perceptions made by journalists and writers over a two hundred year period. What made this particular crime so popular and immortal is that it involved a newly ordained minister, an unpopular politician, and the politician’s mistress. Each century represented in this book, each revival of the crime, has a totally different view on the real historical significance of it.
The first chapter of this book was spent entirely on the murder itself. It started off with how the weeks and morning leading up to the murder went. It described the political career and responsibilities of John Montagu, The Earl of Sandwich, and why he was so unpopular amongst the public. It described the usual daily life of Martha Ray and her friendships and interests. Reverend James Hackman’s days leading up to the crime were included too. This chapter pretty much covered every minute, it seemed, leading up to the murder and attempted suicide and gave us a great context on the facts so we understand the complete and utter differences between the centuries and how this scandal was portrayed.
The next three chapters were devoted to introducing you to the publicity this transgression received in the eighteenth century. The third chapter alone describes how romanticized Hackman was and how much of a victim he was seen to have been to his own passion and love. Everyone felt his stoicism was heroic and gallant. How he wanted to die because he had killed his one true love was a popular topic. That he killed her only because he would prefer the destruction of her compared to seeing her in the possession of another.
The fourth chapter was all about Sandwich. He got the brunt of all this, poor guy. He may have been a libertine, but not nearly as bad compared against many others. The press tore him to bits over the scandal. It gave them a reason to point out the moral failures of the rich and the famous. They had such fears of corruption during this time that they sought to blame the sexual conduct of high society and political leaders. Lord Sandwich made no attempt to hide Martha Ray as his mistress. Her portrait was hung in his apartments and survives to this day. This affair of sorts gave the press another group of people to torment. This being the providers of this moral depravity covered in chapter five, Demi-reps. Demi-reps were women who were not respectable enough to be a wife and often had murky pasts. They were of no high social rank but lived with the wealthy as if they were their wives. Ray was considered just that and her life and the life of others like her and Sandwich were under heavy scrutiny.
The following chapters leading to the end of the book pertain to how the crime is represented and resurrected through time. Doctors began to analyze it for its clinical elements. Others began to think it had to do with women and their sensibilities. The press even go so far as to say that women reading sappy books can cause this problem. The Victorian era in particular took a high moral standing on this and treated it as a historical reference to the “debaucheries” of the age. They stated that George III “created the social and political conditions in which the vice could flourish.” They use Ray and Sandwich as a lesson, showing how that the public of the Victorian era no longer disrespects the public opinion and hides their transgressions from view.
The Twentieth century revived the old scandal in a different way than any had before. Burgess, for the sake of good writing material, fabricated letters and stated that they were indeed historic documents that were just found. This was more than likely untrue. There was a renewed interest in the old high society during this time also that made them look back into the lives of people like Sandwich. Twentieth century writers made the story into an anecdote instead of historical truth. The story of Ray, Hackman, and Sandwich was regurgitated in many different forms from biography to medical case books. Their story was elaborated on until it was skewed into oblivion.
This book was intended to provide the reader with the historical details of the murder and attempted suicide that has so greatly inspired the press for centuries. It was supposed to show you how rehashed and botched it became, but also the different receptions it got from the societies of the era. The book succeeded in doing so. He delivered on his promise of endless references and information. The sheer amount of references were insane. John Brewer did a great job of weaving together the bits and pieces of history to give you the most accurate account of the atrocity of Ray and Hackman’s end. The material provided to understand the view points of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth century was heavy to say the least. But if this story is resurrected again it will be too soon.
While admiring Brewer’s efforts and intentions to show the overall influence the murder had on literature and its genres, its political influence, and its psychological one, it just fell short. The first few chapters were great and really strong. By the time the reader gets half way and towards the end it just falls apart. All the references stated seemed to not hold together as coherently as the previous chapters due to overwriting. What could be expressed in one paragraph became three or four. The only points that seemed relevant were at the start of every three or so chapters because of over elaborating. It became very dry and overwhelming.
It is hard to read and hard to follow after half way through. It is understandable how the beginning is relevant but after chapter five it becomes something else. It doesn’t focus on history itself but on things that are more akin to literature classes. It had more influence on the literature of the covered time periods. It shaped new genres and ways of addressing topics such as this. That is more to be appreciated by scholars of literature and journalism than those interested in history.
The first chapter of this book was spent entirely on the murder itself. It started off with how the weeks and morning leading up to the murder went. It described the political career and responsibilities of John Montagu, The Earl of Sandwich, and why he was so unpopular amongst the public. It described the usual daily life of Martha Ray and her friendships and interests. Reverend James Hackman’s days leading up to the crime were included too. This chapter pretty much covered every minute, it seemed, leading up to the murder and attempted suicide and gave us a great context on the facts so we understand the complete and utter differences between the centuries and how this scandal was portrayed.
The next three chapters were devoted to introducing you to the publicity this transgression received in the eighteenth century. The third chapter alone describes how romanticized Hackman was and how much of a victim he was seen to have been to his own passion and love. Everyone felt his stoicism was heroic and gallant. How he wanted to die because he had killed his one true love was a popular topic. That he killed her only because he would prefer the destruction of her compared to seeing her in the possession of another.
The fourth chapter was all about Sandwich. He got the brunt of all this, poor guy. He may have been a libertine, but not nearly as bad compared against many others. The press tore him to bits over the scandal. It gave them a reason to point out the moral failures of the rich and the famous. They had such fears of corruption during this time that they sought to blame the sexual conduct of high society and political leaders. Lord Sandwich made no attempt to hide Martha Ray as his mistress. Her portrait was hung in his apartments and survives to this day. This affair of sorts gave the press another group of people to torment. This being the providers of this moral depravity covered in chapter five, Demi-reps. Demi-reps were women who were not respectable enough to be a wife and often had murky pasts. They were of no high social rank but lived with the wealthy as if they were their wives. Ray was considered just that and her life and the life of others like her and Sandwich were under heavy scrutiny.
The following chapters leading to the end of the book pertain to how the crime is represented and resurrected through time. Doctors began to analyze it for its clinical elements. Others began to think it had to do with women and their sensibilities. The press even go so far as to say that women reading sappy books can cause this problem. The Victorian era in particular took a high moral standing on this and treated it as a historical reference to the “debaucheries” of the age. They stated that George III “created the social and political conditions in which the vice could flourish.” They use Ray and Sandwich as a lesson, showing how that the public of the Victorian era no longer disrespects the public opinion and hides their transgressions from view.
The Twentieth century revived the old scandal in a different way than any had before. Burgess, for the sake of good writing material, fabricated letters and stated that they were indeed historic documents that were just found. This was more than likely untrue. There was a renewed interest in the old high society during this time also that made them look back into the lives of people like Sandwich. Twentieth century writers made the story into an anecdote instead of historical truth. The story of Ray, Hackman, and Sandwich was regurgitated in many different forms from biography to medical case books. Their story was elaborated on until it was skewed into oblivion.
This book was intended to provide the reader with the historical details of the murder and attempted suicide that has so greatly inspired the press for centuries. It was supposed to show you how rehashed and botched it became, but also the different receptions it got from the societies of the era. The book succeeded in doing so. He delivered on his promise of endless references and information. The sheer amount of references were insane. John Brewer did a great job of weaving together the bits and pieces of history to give you the most accurate account of the atrocity of Ray and Hackman’s end. The material provided to understand the view points of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth century was heavy to say the least. But if this story is resurrected again it will be too soon.
While admiring Brewer’s efforts and intentions to show the overall influence the murder had on literature and its genres, its political influence, and its psychological one, it just fell short. The first few chapters were great and really strong. By the time the reader gets half way and towards the end it just falls apart. All the references stated seemed to not hold together as coherently as the previous chapters due to overwriting. What could be expressed in one paragraph became three or four. The only points that seemed relevant were at the start of every three or so chapters because of over elaborating. It became very dry and overwhelming.
It is hard to read and hard to follow after half way through. It is understandable how the beginning is relevant but after chapter five it becomes something else. It doesn’t focus on history itself but on things that are more akin to literature classes. It had more influence on the literature of the covered time periods. It shaped new genres and ways of addressing topics such as this. That is more to be appreciated by scholars of literature and journalism than those interested in history.
December 5, 2013
Starts off very strong, but really falls apart towards the end.
April 5, 2023
This takes a very different view on the 1779 murder of Martha Ray by James Hackman, in that it examines the case through multiple lenses: a contemporaneous account; newspaper accounts before and after Hackman's trial; and then in relation to literature developed around the subject for the next two hundred years. As such it is less a book about the facts of the case, which are relatively slender, and more about the interpretation of the killing inside it's milieux and its resounding impact.
This is my second reading (after about 5 years) and there's so much more to pick up on in such a well researched and written volume. I will doubtless return to it again.
This is my second reading (after about 5 years) and there's so much more to pick up on in such a well researched and written volume. I will doubtless return to it again.
February 7, 2021
Fascinating story of obsession and murder.
4-listed
September 12, 2009From Book Lover's Calendar 2/23/09:
Full-Court Press
Though the focal point of this fascinating history is the 1779 murder of the mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, the fine points are in the examination of how the press treated the case. They speculated wildly and made things up as they went along, and the inevitable parallels to modern media circuses provide valuable insight into the coverage of today's scandals.
Full-Court Press
Though the focal point of this fascinating history is the 1779 murder of the mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, the fine points are in the examination of how the press treated the case. They speculated wildly and made things up as they went along, and the inevitable parallels to modern media circuses provide valuable insight into the coverage of today's scandals.
February 3, 2008
Sentimental Murder tells you all you ever wanted to know about how the murder of Martha Ray by James Hackman has been portrayed from the late 18th century until the 21st. It doesn't really say much about what led to the murder however that is not this book's aim. It is an extremely interesting account of how different eras view particular moments in history.
April 20, 2015
Well worth a read.Brewer doesn't and can't solve the mystery of why Hackman murdered Martha Ray but he relates all that we know about the events and how it's been depicted over the years.It's interesting that fictional,faked letters became factual to later writers and spun new interpretations over time.Do we ever really know what in history or even today?
September 27, 2015
A really fascinating study of a single historical event, how it was reported, expanded, and romanticized over the course of two centuries. Not just a provocative story, but interesting commentary on historiography.
Read
September 11, 2008John Brewer is an amazing author. This book is written in such a way that you will want to continue to read and study it.
February 12, 2013
Not much
March 12, 2015
Elegance, louche aristos, beautiful courtesans, passion, pistols
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews