Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of SandwichHarper Collins, 2009. okt. 13. - 256 oldal In eighteenth-century England the aristocracy dominated the imagination, their exploits -- and misdeeds -- discussed, debated, and gossiped about in the salons and parlors of London. Now author Martin Levy vividly re-creates one of the most shocking and scandalous events of the period, in a riveting true tale of passion, obsession, murder, and courtroom drama. On a spring evening in the year 1779, a young woman emerged from London's Covent Garden Theatre amid a grand swirl of lords and ladies, their servants and coachmen. From out of the shadows a man emerged, dressed in a black suit. He raised a pistol and fired one fatal shot point-blank into the woman's head. A sudden and brutal murder, it was all the more shocking because of the identities of those involved. The victim was Martha Ray, famed aficionada of fashion and the arts, and longtime live-in mistress of the Earl of Sandwich, high-ranking minister to King George III. The assailant was James Hackman, a respected Anglican minister and Martha Ray's former lover. It was a savage crime that rocked both British high society and the church, and inflamed the interest and imagination of such renowned personages as Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, noted biographer and lover of prostitutes and executions. And it resulted in a courtroom extravaganza unique in the annals of legal proceedings -- where passion was the motive, the madness of "momentary phrenzy" the mitigating circumstance . . . and love the ultimate justification for a crazed act of murder. With consummate skill, author Martin Levy brings to breathtaking life the sights and sounds of an unparalleled era in history -- when hangings were public entertainment and debauchery was a popular pastime of the wealthy and the titled -- and expertly unravels the mystery behind a truly sensational slaying. Fascinating, startling, edifying, and entertaining, Love and Madness is a brilliant tale of crime and punishment as vivid and compelling as the headlines of today. |
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... remarked that he would take it as a special favor if Sandwich did not reveal who had taught him to dance. Yet he had no trouble attracting women. Among his papers are letters from petitioners offering sex in exchange for M favors, no ...
... remarked Wilkes, “who [if they had sinned at all] seemed at least to have sinned naturally,” which is to say, heterosexually.12 Later Wilkes fell out with Sandwich over politics. Ideologically, they occupied opposing camps. Like ...
... remarked, in mock horror, that it was the first time he had heard the Devil preach against sin. By the end of the afternoon, Sandwich routed Wilkes,. H. M. but at the cost of his own reputation. Henceforth he. John Wilkes. Engraving ...
... remarked, “the luckiest thing that could have happened.”15 Whatever the case, she did not make his way easy. Perhaps she had learned a lesson from her parents' unhappy liaison, for while he represented wealth, status, power, and ...
Tartalomjegyzék
Newgate Prison | 87 |
A Public Example | 99 |
This Good Old Custom | 125 |
An Essay Inspired by James Hackmans Journey | 155 |
notes | 201 |
bibliography | 219 |
index | 233 |
Más kiadások - Összes megtekintése
Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of ... Martin Levy Korlátozott előnézet - 2004 |
Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of ... M. J. Levy Nincs elérhető előnézet - 2004 |