Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell Part 34

"Well, that is true, but . . ."

"Do you feel particularly wicked at present, Mr Norrell? Is there some pressing reason that the British Government should establish a separate body of law to control your vicious tendencies?"

"No, I . . ."

"Or perhaps Mr Strange is exhibiting a strong inclination to murder, maim and steal?"

"No, but . . ."

"Then all we are left with is this Mr Drawlight who, as far as I can tell, is not a magician at all."

"But his crimes are specifically magical crimes. Under English law he ought to be tried by the court of Cinque Dragownes - it is the proper place for him. These are the names of his crimes." Mr Norrell placed yet another list before the Prime Minister. "There! False Magic, Evil Tendings and Malevolent Pedagogy. No ordinary court is competent to deal with them."

"No doubt. But, as I have already observed, there is no one who can try the case."

"If your lords.h.i.+p will only cast your eye over page forty-two of my notes, I propose employing judges, advocates and proctors from the Doctors Commons. I could explain the principles of thaumaturgic law to them it will take no more than a week or so. And I could lend them my servant, John Childerma.s.s, for as long as the trial lasts. He is a very knowledgeable man and could easily tell them when they were going wrong."

"What! The judge and lawyers to be coached in their duties by the plaintiff and his servant! Certainly not! Justice recoils from the idea!"

Mr Norrell blinked. "But what other security do I have that other magicians might not arise to challenge my authority and contradict me?"

"Mr Norrell, it is not the duty of the court any court to exalt one person's opinions above others! Not in magic nor in any other sphere of life. If other magicians think differently from you, then you must battle it out with them. You must prove the superiority of your opinions, as I do in politics. You must argue and publish and practise your magic and you must learn to live as I do in the face of constant criticism, opposition and censure. That, sir, is the English way."

"But . . ."

"I am sorry, Mr Norrell. I will hear no more. That is an end of it. The Government of Great Britain is grateful to you. You have done your country immeasurable service. Any one may know how highly we prize you, but what you ask is quite impossible."

Drawlight's deception soon became common knowledge and, as Strange had predicted, a certain amount of blame attached to the two magicians. Drawlight was, after all, the bosom companion of one of them. It made an excellent subject for the caricaturists and several quite startling examples were published. One by George Cruikshank shewed Mr Norrell making a long speech to a group of his admirers about the n.o.bility of English magic, while in a backroom Strange dictated a sort of bill of fare to a servant who chalked it upon a blackboard; "For killing a slight acquaintance by magic twenty guineas. For killing a close friend forty guineas. For killing a relation one hundred guineas. For killing a spouse four hundred guineas." In another caricature by Rowlandson a fas.h.i.+onable lady was walking in the street leading a fluffy little dog upon a leash. She was met by some of her acquaintance who began exclaiming over her dog: "La! Mrs Foulkes, what a sweet little pug!" "Yes," replied Mrs Foulkes, "it is Mr Foulkes. I paid Mr Strange and Mr Norrell fifty guineas to make my husband obedient to my every desire and this is the result."

There is no doubt that the caricatures and malicious paragraphs in the newspapers did the cause of English magic considerable damage. It was now possible for magic to be considered in quite a different light not as the Nation's Greatest Defence, but as the tool of Malice and Envy.

And what of the people whom Drawlight had harmed? How did they view matters? There is no doubt that Mr Palgrave the ancient, sick and disagreeable person who had hoped to live for ever intended to prosecute Drawlight for fraud, but he was prevented from doing so by the circ.u.mstance of his dying suddenly the next day. His children and heirs (who all hated him) were rather pleased than otherwise to discover that his last days had been characterized by frustration, misery and disappointment. Nor did Drawlight have any thing to fear from Miss Gray or Mrs Bullworth. Miss Gray's friends and relations would not allow her to become embroiled in a vulgar court case and Mrs Bullworth's instructions to Drawlight had been so malicious as to make her culpable herself; she was powerless to strike at him. That left Gatcombe and Tantony, the Nottinghams.h.i.+re brewers. As a practical man of business Mr Gatcombe was chiefly concerned to recover the money and sent bailiffs to London to fetch it. Unfortunately, Drawlight was unable to oblige Mr Gatcombe in this small particular, as he had spent it all long ago.

And so we come to Drawlight's real downfall, for no sooner had he escaped the gallows than his true Nemesis appeared in the already-cloudy sky of his existence,whirling through the air upon black wings to crush him. He had never been rich, indeed quite the reverse. He lived chiefly upon credit and by borrowing from his friends. Sometimes he won money at gambling clubs, but more often he encouraged foolish young Toms and Jerrys to gamble, and when they lost (which they invariably did) he would take them by the arm and, talking all the while, would lead them to this or that money-lender of his acquaintance. "I could not honestly recommend you to any other money-lender," he would tell them solicitously, "they require such monstrous amounts of interest but Mr Buzzard is quite another sort. He is such a kindly old gentleman. He cannot bear to see any body denied a pleasure when he has the means of obtaining it for them. I truly think that he considers the lending of small sums of money more in the light of a work of charity than a business venture!" For this small but important role in luring young men into debt, vice and ruination,Drawlight received payment from the money-lenders generally four per cent of the first year's interest for the son of a commoner, six per cent for the son of a viscount or baronet and ten per cent for the son of an earl or duke.

News of his disgrace began to circulate. Tailors, hatters and glovemakers to whom he owed money became anxious and began to clamour for payment. Debts which he had confidently supposed might be put off for another four or five years were suddenly revived and made matters of urgency. Rough-faced men with sticks in their hands came pounding upon his door. He was advised by several people to go abroad immediately, but he could not quite believe that he was so entirely forsaken by his friends. He thought Mr Norrell would relent; he thought Lascelles, his dear, dear Lascelles, would help him. He sent them both respectful letters requesting the immediate loan of four hundred guineas. But Mr Norrell never replied and Lascelles only wrote to say that he made it a rule never to lend money to any one. Drawlight was arrested for debt upon the Tuesday morning and by the following Friday he was a prisoner in the King's Bench Prison.

On an evening towards the end of November, a week or so after these events, Strange and Arabella were sitting in the drawing- room at Soho-square. Arabella was writing a letter and Strange was plucking absent-mindedly at his hair and staring straight ahead of him. Suddenly he got up and went out of the room.

He reappeared an hour later with a dozen sheets of paper covered in writing.

Arabella looked up. "I thought the article for The Friends of English Magic The Friends of English Magic was done," she said. was done," she said.

"This is not the article for The Friends of English Magic The Friends of English Magic. It is a review of Portishead's book."

Arabella frowned. "But you cannot review a book which you yourself helped write."

"I believe I might. Under certain circ.u.mstances."

"Indeed! And what circ.u.mstances are those?"

"If I say it is an abominable book, a wicked fraud perpetrated upon the British public."

Arabella stared at him. "Jonathan!" she said at last.

"Well, it is is an abominable book." an abominable book."

He handed her the sheaf of papers and she began to read them. The mantelpiece clock struck nine and Jeremy brought in the tea-things. When she had finished, she sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I do not know. Publish it, I suppose."

"But what of poor Lord Portishead? If he has written things in his book that are wrong, then of course someone ought to say so. But you know very well that he only wrote them because you told him to. He will feel himself very ill used."

"Oh, quite! It is a wretched business from start to finish," said Strange unconcernedly. He sipped his tea and ate a piece of toast. "But that is not the point. Ought I to allow my regard for Portishead to prevent me from saying what I think is true? I do not think so. Do you?"

"But must it be you?" said Arabella with a miserable look. "Poor man, he will feel it so much more coming from you."

Strange frowned. "Of course it must be me. Who else is there? But, come. I promise you I will make him a very handsome apology just as soon as the occasion arises."

And with that Arabella was obliged to be content.

In the meantime Strange considered where he should send his review. His choice fell upon Mr Jeffrey, the editor of The Edinburgh Review The Edinburgh Review in Scotland. in Scotland. The Edinburgh Review, The Edinburgh Review, it may be remembered, was a radical publication in favour of political reform, emanc.i.p.ation of Catholics and Jews, and all sorts of other things Mr Norrell did not approve. As a consequence, in recent years Mr Jeffrey had seen reviews and articles upon the Revival of English Magic appear in rival publications, while he, poor fellow, had none. it may be remembered, was a radical publication in favour of political reform, emanc.i.p.ation of Catholics and Jews, and all sorts of other things Mr Norrell did not approve. As a consequence, in recent years Mr Jeffrey had seen reviews and articles upon the Revival of English Magic appear in rival publications, while he, poor fellow, had none.

Naturally he was delighted to receive Strange's review. He was not in the least concerned about its astonis.h.i.+ng and revolutionary content, since that was the sort of thing that he liked best. He wrote Strange a letter immediately, a.s.suring him that he would publish it as soon as possible, and a couple of days later he sent Strange a haggis (a sort of Scotch pudding) as a present.

1 Les Cinque Dragownes (The Five Dragons). This court took its name not, as is generally supposed, from the ferocity of its judges, but from a chamber in the house of John Uskgla.s.s, the Raven King, in Newcastle where the judgements were originally given. This chamber was said to be twelve-sided and to be decorated by wonderful carvings, some of them the work of men and some of them the work of fairies. The most marvellous of all were the carvings of five dragons.

Crimes tried by the Cinque Dragownes included: "Evil Tendings" magic with an inherently malevolent purpose; "False Magic" pretending to do magic or promising to do magic which one either could not or did not intend to do; selling magic rings, hats, shoes, coats, belts, shovels, beans, musical instruments etc., etc. to people who could not be expected to control those powerful articles; pretending to be a magician or pretending to act on behalf of a magician; teaching magic to unsuitable persons, e.g. drunkards, madmen, children, persons of vicious habits and inclinations; and many other magical crimes committed by trained magicians and other Christians. Crimes against the person of John Uskgla.s.s were also tried by the Cinque Dragownes. The only category of magical crimes with which the Cinque Dragownes had nothing to do was crimes by fairies. These were dealt with by the separate court of Folflures.

In England in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a thriving community of magicians and fairies was continually performing magic. Magic is notoriously difficult to regulate and, naturally enough, not all the magic that was done was well intentioned. John Uskgla.s.s seems to have devoted a great deal of time and energy to the creation of a body of law to govern magic and magicians. When the practice of magic spread throughout England, the southern English kings were only too grateful to borrow the wisdom of their northern neighbour. It is a peculiarity of that time that though England was divided into two countries with separate judiciary systems, the body of law which governed magic was the same for both. The southern English equivalent of the Cinque Dragownes was called the Petty Dragownes of London and was situated near Blackfriars.

38.

From The Edinburgh Review The Edinburgh Review January 1815 ART. XIII. Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic, &c Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic, &c. By JOHN WATERBURY, Lord PORTISHEAD, with an Account of the Magic done in the late Peninsular War: By JONATHAN STRANGE, Magician-in-Ordinary to His Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON. London, 1814. John Murray.

As the valued aide and confidant of Mr NORRELL and the friend of Mr STRANGE, Lord PORTISHEAD is admirably fitted to write the history of recent magical events, for he has been at the centre of many of them. Each of Mr NORRELL and Mr STRANGE's achievements has been widely discussed in the newspapers and reviews, but Lord PORTISHEAD's readers will have their understanding much improved by having the tale set out for them in its entirety.

Mr NORRELL's more enthusiastic admirers would have us believe that he arrived in London in the Spring of 1807 fully formed as England's Greatest Magician and the First Phenomenon of the Age, but it is clear from PORTISHEAD's account that both he and STRANGE have grown in confidence and skill from very tentative beginnings. PORTISHEAD does not neglect to mention their failures as well as their successes. Chapter Five contains a tragi-comic account of their long-running argument with the HORSE GUARDS which began in 1810 when one of the generals had the original notion of replacing the Cavalry's horses with unicorns. In this way it was hoped to grant the soldiers the power of goring Frenchmen through their hearts. Unfortunately, this excellent plan was never implemented since, far from finding unicorns in sufficient number for the Cavalry's use, Mr NORRELL and Mr STRANGE have yet to discover a single one.

Of more dubious value is the second half of his lords.h.i.+p's book, wherein he leaves description behind and begins to lay down rules to determine what is, and is not, respectable English magic in other words what shall be called White Magic and what Black. There is nothing new here. Were the reader to cast his eye over the offerings of the recent commentators upon Magic, he would begin to perceive a curious uniformity of opinion. All recite the same history and all use the same arguments to establish their conclusions.

Perhaps the time has come to ask why this should be so. In every other branch of Knowledge our understanding is enlarged by rational opposition and debate. Law, Theology, History and Science have their various factions. Why then, in Magic, do we hear nothing but the same tired arguments? One begins to wonder why any one troubles to argue at all, since everyone appears to be convinced of the same truths. This dreary monotone is particularly evident in recent accounts of ENGLISH MAGICAL HISTORY which are growing more eccentric with each retelling.

Eight years ago this very author published A Child's History of the Raven King A Child's History of the Raven King, one of the most perfect things of its kind. It conveys to the reader a vivid sense of the eeriness and wonder of JOHN USKGLa.s.s's magic. So why does he now pretend to believe that true English Magic began in the sixteenth century with MARTIN PALE? In Chapter 6 of the Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic, &c Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic, &c., he declares that PALE consciously set out to purge English Magic of its darker elements. He does not attempt to present any evidence for this extraordinary claim which is just as well, since no evidence exists.

According to PORTISHEAD's present view, the tradition which began with PALE was more perfectly elaborated by HICKMAN, LANCHESTER, GOUBERT, BELASIS et al et al (those we term the ARGENTINE magicians), and has now reached its glorious apogee with Mr NORRELL and Mr STRANGE. It is certainly a view that Mr STRANGE and Mr NORRELL have worked hard to perpetrate. But it simply will not do. MARTIN PALE and the ARGENTINE magicians never intended to lay the foundations of English Magic. In every spell they recorded, in every word they wrote, they were trying to re-create the glorious Magic of their predecessors (those we term the Golden Age or AUREATE magicians): THOMAS G.o.dBLESS, RALPH DE STOKESEY, CATHERINE OF WINCHESTER and, above all, JOHN USKGLa.s.s. MARTIN PALE was the devoted follower of these magicians. He never ceased to regret that he had been born two hundred years out of his proper time. (those we term the ARGENTINE magicians), and has now reached its glorious apogee with Mr NORRELL and Mr STRANGE. It is certainly a view that Mr STRANGE and Mr NORRELL have worked hard to perpetrate. But it simply will not do. MARTIN PALE and the ARGENTINE magicians never intended to lay the foundations of English Magic. In every spell they recorded, in every word they wrote, they were trying to re-create the glorious Magic of their predecessors (those we term the Golden Age or AUREATE magicians): THOMAS G.o.dBLESS, RALPH DE STOKESEY, CATHERINE OF WINCHESTER and, above all, JOHN USKGLa.s.s. MARTIN PALE was the devoted follower of these magicians. He never ceased to regret that he had been born two hundred years out of his proper time.

One of the most extraordinary characteristics of the revival of English Magic has been its treatment of JOHN USKGLa.s.s. Nowadays it seems that his name is only spoken in order to revile him. It is as if Mr DAVY and Mr FARADAY and our other Great Men of Science felt obliged to begin their lectures by expressing their contempt and loathing of ISAAC NEWTON. Or as if our eminent Physicians prefaced every announcement of a new discovery in Medicine with a description of the wickedness of WILLIAM HARVEY.

Lord PORTISHEAD devotes a long chapter of his book to trying to prove that JOHN USKGLa.s.s is not, as is commonly supposed, the founder of English Magic since there were magicians in these islands before his time. I do not deny it. But what I do most vehemently deny is that there was any tradition of Magic tradition of Magic in England before JOHN USKGLa.s.s. in England before JOHN USKGLa.s.s.

Let us examine these earlier magicians that PORTISHEAD makes so much of. Who were they? JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA was one, a magician who came from the Holy Lands and planted a magic tree to protect England from harm but I never heard that he stayed long enough to teach any of the inhabitants his skills. MERLIN was another but, as he was upon his mother's side Welsh Welsh and upon his father's and upon his father's Infernal Infernal, he will scarcely do for that pattern of respectable English Magic upon which PORTISHEAD, NORRELL and STRANGE have set their hearts. And who were MERLIN's pupils and followers? We cannot name a single one. No, for once the common view is the correct one: Magic had been long extinct in these islands until JOHN USKGLa.s.s came out of Faerie and established his Kingdom of Northern England.

PORTISHEAD seems to have had some doubts upon this point himself and in case his arguments have failed to convince his readers he sets about proving that JOHN USKGLa.s.s's magic was inherently wicked. But it is far from clear that the examples he chuses support this conclusion. Let us examine one of them. Everyone has heard of the four magical woods that surrounded JOHN USKGLa.s.s's capital city of Newcastle. Their names were Great Tom, Asmody's Citadel, Petty Egypt and Serlo's Blessing. They moved from place to place and were known, upon occasion, to swallow up people who approached the city intending harm to the inhabitants. Certainly the notion of man-eating woods strikes us as eerie and horrible, but there is no evidence that JOHN USKGLa.s.s's contemporaries found it so. It was a violent Age; JOHN USKGLa.s.s was a mediaeval king and he acted as a mediaeval king should, to protect his city and his citizens.

Often it is difficult to decide upon the morality of USKGLa.s.s's actions because his motives are so obscure. Of all the AUREATE magicians he is the most mysterious. No one knows why in 1138 he caused the moon to disappear from the sky and made it travel through all the lakes and rivers of England. We do not know why in 1202 he quarrelled with Winter and banished it from his kingdom, so that for four years Northern England enjoyed continual Summer. Nor do we know why for thirty consecutive nights in May and June of 1345 every man, woman and child in the kingdom dreamt that they had been gathered together upon a dark red plain beneath a pale golden sky to build a tall black tower. Each night they laboured, waking in the morning in their own beds completely exhausted. The dream only ceased to trouble them when, on the thirtieth night, the tower and its fortifications were completed. In all these stories but particularly in the last we have a sense of great events going on, but what they might be we cannot tell. Several scholars have speculated that the tall black tower was situated in that part of h.e.l.l which USKGLa.s.s was reputed to lease from LUCIFER and that USKGLa.s.s was building a fortress in order to prosecute a war against his enemies in h.e.l.l. However, MARTIN PALE thought otherwise. He believed that there was a connexion between the construction of the tower and the appearance in England three years later of the Black Death. JOHN USKGLa.s.s's kingdom of Northern England suffered a good deal less from the disease than its southern neighbour and PALE believed that this was because USKGLa.s.s had constructed some sort of defence against it.

But according to the Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic Essay on the Extraordinary Revival of English Magic we have no business even to wonder about such things. According to Mr NORRELL and Lord PORTISHEAD the Modern Magician ought not to meddle with things only half-nderstood. But we have no business even to wonder about such things. According to Mr NORRELL and Lord PORTISHEAD the Modern Magician ought not to meddle with things only half-nderstood. But I I say that it is precisely because these things are only half-understood that we must study them. say that it is precisely because these things are only half-understood that we must study them.

English Magic is the strange house we magicians inhabit. It is built upon foundations that JOHN USKGLa.s.s made and we ignore those foundations at our peril. They should be studied and their nature understood so that we can learn what they will support and what they will not. Otherwise cracks will appear, letting in winds from G.o.d-knows-where. The corridors will lead us to places we never intended to go.

In conclusion PORTISHEAD's book though containing many excellent things is a fine example of the mad contradiction at the heart of Modern English Magic: our foremost magicians continually declare their intention of erasing every hint and trace of JOHN USKGLa.s.s from English Magic, but how is this even possible? It is JOHN USKGLa.s.s's magic that we do.

39.

The two magicians February 1815 OF ALL THE CONTROVERSIAL pieces ever published in The Edinburgh Review The Edinburgh Review, this was the most controversial by far. By the end of January there scarcely seemed to be an educated man or woman from one end of the country to the other who had not read it and formed an opinion upon it. Though it was unsigned, everyone knew who the author was Strange. Oh, certainly at the beginning some people hesitated and pointed to the fact that Strange was as much criticized as Norrell perhaps more. But these people were judged very stupid by their friends. Was not Jonathan Strange known to be precisely the sort of whimsical, contradictory person who would would publish against himself? And did not the author declare himself to be a magician? Who else could it possibly be? Who else could speak with so much authority? publish against himself? And did not the author declare himself to be a magician? Who else could it possibly be? Who else could speak with so much authority?

When Mr Norrell had first come to London, his opinions had seemed very new and not a little eccentric. But since then people had grown accustomed to them and he had seemed no more than the Mirror of the Times when he said that magic, like the oceans themselves, should agree to be governed by Englishmen. Its boundaries were to be drawn up and all that was not easily comprehensible to modern ladies and gentlemen John Uskgla.s.s's three-hundred-year reign, the strange, uneasy history of our dealings with fairies might be conveniently done away with. Now Strange had turned the Norrellite view of magic on its head. Suddenly it seemed that all that had been learnt in every English childhood of the wildness of English magic might still be true, and even now on some long-forgotten paths, behind the sky, on the other side of the rain, John Uskgla.s.s might be riding still, with his company of men and fairies.

Most people thought the partners.h.i.+p between the two magicians must be broken up. In London there was a rumour that Strange had been to Hanover-square and the servants had turned him away. And there was another, contradictory rumour to the effect that Strange had not not been to Hanover-square, but that Mr Norrell was sitting night and day in his library, waiting for his pupil, pestering the servants every five minutes to go and look out of the window to see if he were coming. been to Hanover-square, but that Mr Norrell was sitting night and day in his library, waiting for his pupil, pestering the servants every five minutes to go and look out of the window to see if he were coming.

On a Sunday evening in early February Strange did at last call upon Mr Norrell. This much was certain because two gentlemen on their way to St George's, Hanover-square saw him standing on the steps of the house; saw the door opened; saw Strange speak to the servant; and saw him instantly admitted as one who had been long expected. The two gentlemen continued on their way to church where they immediately told their friends in the neighbouring pews what they had seen. Five minutes later a thin, saintly-looking young man arrived at the church. Under the pretext of saying his prayers, he whispered that he had just spoken to someone who was leaning out of the first-floor window of the house next door to Mr Norrell's and this person believed he could hear Mr Strange ranting and haranguing his master. Two minutes later it was being reported throughout the church that both magicians had threatened each other with a kind of magical excommunication. The service began and several of the congregation were seen to gaze longingly at the windows, as if wondering why those apertures were always placed so high in ecclesiastical buildings. An anthem was sung to the accompaniment of the organ and some people said later that above the sound of the music they had heard great rolls of thunder a sure sign of magical disturbances. But other people said that they had imagined it.

All of which would have greatly astonished the two magicians who were at that moment standing silently in Mr Norrell's library, regarding each other warily. Strange, who had not seen his tutor for some days, was shocked at his appearance. His face was haggard and his body shrunken he looked ten years older.

"Shall we sit down, sir?" said Strange. He moved towards a chair and Mr Norrell flinched at the suddenness of the movement. It was almost as if he were expecting Strange to hit him. The next moment, however, he had recovered himself enough to sit down.

Strange was not much more comfortable. In the last few days he had asked himself over and over again if he had been right to publish the review, and repeatedly he had come to the conclusion that he had been. He had decided that the correct att.i.tude to take was one of dignified moral superiority softened by a very moderate amount of apology. But now that he was actually sitting in Mr Norrell's library again, he did not find it easy to meet his tutor's eye. His gaze fixed itself upon an odd succession of objects a small porcelain figure of Dr Martin Pale; the doork.n.o.b; his own thumbnail; Mr Norrell's left shoe.

Mr Norrell, on the other hand, never once took his eyes from Strange's face.

After several moments' silence both men spoke at once.

"After all your kindness to me . . ." began Strange.

"You think that I am angry," began Mr Norrell.

Both paused and then Strange indicated that Mr Norrell should continue.

"You think that I am angry," said Mr Norrell, "but I am not. You think I do not know why you have done what you have done, but I do. You think you have put all your heart into that writing and that every one in England now understands you. What do they understand? Nothing. I understood you before you wrote a word." He paused and his face worked as if he were struggling to say something that lay very deep inside him. "What you wrote, you wrote for me. For me alone."

Strange opened his mouth to protest at this surprizing conclusion. But upon consideration he realized it was probably true. He was silent.

Mr Norrell continued. "Do you really believe that I have never felt the same . . . the same longing longing you feel? you feel? It is John Uskgla.s.s's magic that we do. It is John Uskgla.s.s's magic that we do. Of course it is. What else should it be? I tell you, there were times when I was young when I would have done any thing, endured any thing, to find him and throw myself at his feet. I tried to conjure him up Ha! That was the act of a very young, very foolish man to treat a king like a footman and summon him to come and talk to me. I consider it one of the most fortunate circ.u.mstances of my life that I was unsuccessful! Then I tried to find him using the old spells of election. I could not even make the spells work. All the magic of my youth was wasted in trying to find him. For ten years I thought of nothing else." Of course it is. What else should it be? I tell you, there were times when I was young when I would have done any thing, endured any thing, to find him and throw myself at his feet. I tried to conjure him up Ha! That was the act of a very young, very foolish man to treat a king like a footman and summon him to come and talk to me. I consider it one of the most fortunate circ.u.mstances of my life that I was unsuccessful! Then I tried to find him using the old spells of election. I could not even make the spells work. All the magic of my youth was wasted in trying to find him. For ten years I thought of nothing else."

"You never said any of this before, sir."

Mr Norrell sighed. "I wished to prevent you from falling into my error." He raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

"But by your own account, Mr Norrell, this was long ago when you were young and inexperienced. You are a very different magician now, and I flatter myself that I am no ordinary a.s.sistant. Perhaps if we were to try again?"

"One cannot find so powerful a magician unless he wishes to be found," declared Mr Norrell, flatly. "It is useless to make the attempt. Do you think he cares what happens to England? I tell you he does not. He abandoned us long ago."

"Abandoned?" said Strange, frowning. "That is rather a harsh word. I suppose years of disappointment would naturally incline one towards a conclusion of that sort. But there are many accounts of people who saw John Uskgla.s.s long after he had supposedly left England. The glovemaker's child in Newcastle,1 the Yorks.h.i.+re farmer, the Yorks.h.i.+re farmer,2 he Basque sailor . . ." he Basque sailor . . ."3 Mr Norrell made a small sound of irritation. "Hearsay and superst.i.tion! Even if those stories are true which I am very far from allowing I have never understood how any of them knew that the person they had seen was John Uskgla.s.s. No portraits of him exist. Two of your examples the glovemaker's child and the Basque sailor did not in fact identify him as Uskgla.s.s. They saw a man in black clothes and other people told told them later that it was John Uskgla.s.s. But it is really of very little consequence whether or not he returned at this or that time or was seen by this or that person. The fact remains that when he abandoned his throne and rode out of England he took the best part of English magic with him. From that day forth it began to decline. Surely that is enough in itself to mark him as our enemy? You are familiar, I dare say, with Waters.h.i.+ppe's them later that it was John Uskgla.s.s. But it is really of very little consequence whether or not he returned at this or that time or was seen by this or that person. The fact remains that when he abandoned his throne and rode out of England he took the best part of English magic with him. From that day forth it began to decline. Surely that is enough in itself to mark him as our enemy? You are familiar, I dare say, with Waters.h.i.+ppe's A Faire Wood Withering A Faire Wood Withering?"4 "No, I do not know it," said Strange. He gave Mr Norrell a sharp look that seemed to say he had not read it for the usual reason. "But I cannot help wis.h.i.+ng, sir, that you had said some of this before."

"Perhaps I have been wrong to keep so much of my mind from you," said Mr Norrell, knotting his fingers together. "I am almost certain now that I have been wrong. But I decided long ago that Great Britain's best interests were served by absolute silence on these subjects and old habits are hard to break. But surely you see the task before us, Mr Strange? Yours and mine? Magic cannot wait upon the pleasure of a King who no longer cares what happens to England. We must break English magicians of their dependence on him. We must make them forget John Uskgla.s.s as completely as he has forgotten us."

Strange shook his head, frowning. "No. In spite of all you say, it still seems to me that John Uskgla.s.s stands at the very heart of English magic and that we ignore him at our peril. Perhaps I will be proved wrong in the end. Nothing is more likely. But on a matter of such vital importance to English magic I need to understand for myself. Do not think that I am ungrateful, sir, but I believe the period of our collaboration is over. It seems to me that we are too different . . ."

"Oh!" cried Mr Norrell. "I know that in character . . ." He made a gesture of dismissal. "But what does that matter? We are magicians. That is the beginning and end of me and the beginning and the end of you. It is all that either of us cares about. If you leave this house today and pursue your own course, who will you talk to? as we are talking now? there is no one. You will be quite alone." In a tone almost of pleading, he whispered, "Do not do this!"

Strange stared in perplexity at his master. This was by no means what he had expected. Far from being driven into a pa.s.sion of fury by Strange's review, Mr Norrell seemed only to have been provoked into an outburst of honesty and humility. At that moment it seemed to Strange both reasonable and desirable to return to Mr Norrell's tutelage. It was only pride and the consciousness that he was certain to feel differently in an hour or two which prompted him to say, "I am sorry, Mr Norrell, but ever since I returned from the Peninsula it has not felt right to me to call myself your pupil. I have felt as if I was acting a part. To submit my writings for your approval so that you can make changes in any way that you see fit it is what I can no longer do. It is making me say what I no longer believe."

"All, all is to be done in public," sighed Mr Norrell. He leaned forward and said with more energy, "Be guided by me. Promise me that you will publish nothing, speak nothing, do nothing until you are quite decided upon these matters. Believe me when I tell you that ten, twenty, even fifty years of silence is worth the satisfaction of knowing at the end that you have said what you ought no more, no less. Silence and inaction will not suit you I know that. But I promise to make what amends I can. You will not lose by it. If you have ever had cause to consider me ungrateful, you shall not find me so in future. I shall tell everyone how highly I prize you. We shall no longer be tutor and pupil. Let it be a partners.h.i.+p of equals! Have I not in any case learnt almost as much from you as you have from me? The most lucrative business shall all be yours! The books . . ." He swallowed slightly. "The books which I ought to have lent you and which I have kept from you, you shall read them! We will go to Yorks.h.i.+re, you and I together tonight if you wish it! and I will give you the key to the library and you shall read whatever you desire. I . . ." Mr Norrell pa.s.sed his hand across his brow, as if in surprize at his own words. "I shall not even ask for a retraction of the review. Let it stand. Let it stand. And in time, you and I, together, will answer all the questions you raise in it."

There was a long silence. Mr Norrell watched the other magician's face eagerly. His offer to shew Strange the library at Hurtfew was not without effect. For some moments Strange was clearly wavering in his determination to part with his master, but at last he said, "I am honoured, sir. You are not usually a man for a compromise, I know. But I think I must follow my own course now. I think we must part."

Mr Norrell closed his eyes.

At that moment the door opened. Lucas and one of the other footmen entered with the tea-tray.

"Come, sir," said Strange.

He touched his master's arm to rouse him a little and England's only two magicians took tea together for the last time.