The insanity of love? Why would Rev James Hackman shoot the woman he loved?

Can it be true, as the writers of great novels have often told us, that love is a kind of madness? Perhaps, on the other hand, insanity can destroy the very object of its affections. Something beyond rational explanation, certainly, seems to have afflicted the Reverend James Hackman, who shot the woman he loved, outside the theatre in London, on 7th April 1779.

Here is the story, so judge for yourself.