Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (93 page)

3 It has already been described how Lt-Col. Colquhoun Grant's devotion to his scarlet uniform had led to his capture by the French in 1812.

4 The common people in Northern England considered that they had suffered a great deal in recent years - and with good reason. Poverty and lack of employment had added to the general misery which the war with the French had produced. Then just when the war was over a new threat to their happiness had arisen - remarkable new machines which produced all sorts of goods cheaply and put them out of work. It is scarcely to be wondered at that certain individuals among them had taken to destroying the machines in an attempt to preserve their livelihoods.

5 There could be no neater illustration than this of the curious relation in which the Government in London stood to the northern half of the Kingdom. The Government represented the King of England but the King of England was only the King of the southern half. Legally he was the steward of the northern half maintaining the rule of law until such time as John Uskglass chose to return.

6 Naturally, at various times pretenders have arisen claiming to be John Uskglass and have attempted to take back the kingdom of Northern England. The most famous of these was a young man called Jack Pharaoh who was crowned in Durham Cathedral in 1487. He had the support of a large number of northern noblemen and also of a few fairies who remained at the King's city of Newcastle. Pharaoh was a very handsome man with a kingly bearing. He could do simple magic and his fairy supporters were quick to do more whenever he was present and to attribute it to him. He was the son of a pair of vagabond-magicians. While still a child he was seen at a fair by the Earl of Hexham who noted his striking resemblance to descriptions of John Uskglass. Hexham paid the boy's parents seven shillings for him. Pharaoh never saw them again. Hexham kept him at a secret place in Northern England where he was trained in kingly arts. In 1486 the Earl produced Pharaoh and he began his brief reign as King of Northern England. Pharaoh's main problem was that too many people knew about the decep- tion. Pharaoh and Hexham soon quarrelled. In 1490 Hexham was murdered on Pharaoh's orders. Hexham's four sons joined with Henry VII of Southern England to attack Pharaoh and at the Battle of Worksop in 1493 Pharaoh was defeated. Pharaoh was kept in the Tower of London and executed in 1499.

Other pretenders, more or less successful, were Piers Blackmore and Davey Sans-chaussures. The last pretender was known simply as the Summer King since his true identity was never discovered. He first appeared near Sunderland in May 1536 shortly after Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. It is thought that he may have been a monk from one of the great northern abbeys - Fountains, Rievaulx or Hurtfew. The Summer King differed from Pharaoh and Blackmore in that he had no support from the northern aristocracy, nor did he attempt to gain any. His appeal was to the common people. In some ways his career was more mystical than magical. He healed the sick and taught his followers to revere nature and wild creatures - a creed which seems closer to the teachings of the twelfth-century magician, Thomas Godbless, than any thing John Uskglass ever proposed. His ragged band made no attempt to capture Newcastle or indeed to capture any thing at all. All through the summer of 1536 they wandered about Northern England, gaining supporters wherever they appeared. In September Henry VIII sent an army against them. They were not equipped to fight. Most ran away back to their homes but a few remained and fought for their King and were massacred at Pontefract. The Summer King may have been among the dead or he may have simply vanished.

7 Consulting dead magicians may strike us as highly sensational, but it is a magical procedure with a perfectly respectable history. Martin Pale claimed to have learnt magic from Catherine of Winchester (who was a pupil of John Uskglass). Catherine of Winchester died two hundred years before Martin Pale was born. John Uskglass himself was reputed to have had conversations with Merlin, the Witch of Endor, Moses and Aaron, Joseph of Arimathea and other venerable and ancient magicians.

49
Wildness and madness

March 1816

A
FEW DAYS AFTER the visit to the engravers Strange invited Sir Walter and Lord Portishead to dinner. Both gentlemen had dined with Strange upon many occasions, but this was the first time they had entered the house in Soho- square since the death of Mrs Strange. They found it sadly changed. Strange seemed to have reverted to all his old bachelor habits. Tables and chairs were fast disappearing under piles of papers. Half-finished chapters of his book were to be found in every part of the house and in the drawing-room he had even taken to making notes upon the wallpaper.

Sir Walter started to remove a pile of books from a chair.

"No, no!" cried Strange, "Do not move those! They are in a very particular order."

"But where shall I sit?" asked Sir Walter in some perplexity. Strange made a small sound of exasperation as if this were a most unreasonable request. Nevertheless he moved the books and only once became distracted in the process and fell to reading one of them. As soon as he had read through the passage twice and made a note of it upon the wallpaper he was able to attend to his guests again.

"I am very pleased to see you here again, my lord," he said to Portishead. "I have been asking everyone about Norrell - as 701 much, I believe, as he has been asking about me. I hope you have a great deal to tell me."

"I thought I had already told you all about that," said Sir Walter, plaintively.

"Yes, yes. You told me where Norrell has been and whom he has been speaking to and how he is regarded by all the Ministers, but I m asking his lordship about
magic
and what you understand about magic would barely . . ."

". . . fill a square inch of wallpaper?" offered Sir Walter.

"Quite. Come, my lord. Tell me. What has Mr Norrell been doing lately?"

"Well," said Lord Portishead, "at the request of Lord Liverpool he has been working on some magic to help guard against Napoleon Buonaparte ever escaping again - and he has been studying the
Discourses upon the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness
. He believes he has made some discoveries."

"What is this?" cried Strange in alarm. "Something new in the
Discourses
?"
¹

"It is something he has found on page 72 of Cromford's edition. A new application of the Spell to Conjure Death. I do not understand it very well.
²
Mr Norrell seems to think that the principle might be adapted to cure diseases in men and animals - by conjuring the disease to come forth out of the body as if it were a demon."

"Oh,
that
!" exclaimed Strange in relief. "Yes, yes! I know what you mean now. I made the connexion last June. So Norrell has only just arrived there, has he? Oh, excellent!"

"Many people were surprized that he did not take another pupil after you," continued Lord Portishead, "and I know that he has received a number of applications. But he has taken none of them. Indeed I do not believe he even spoke to the young men in question or answered their letters. His standards are so very exacting and no one comes up to you, sir."

Strange smiled. "Well, all that is just as I would have expected. He can scarcely bear the existence of a second magician. A third will probably be the death of him. I shall soon have the advantage of him. In the struggle to decide the character of English magic the sides will be very unevenly matched. There will only be one Norrellite magician and dozens of Strangite magicians. Or at least, as many as I can educate. I am thinking of setting up Jeremy Johns as a sort of anti-Childermass. He can go about the country seeking out all the people whom Norrell and Childermass have persuaded out of the study of magic and then he and I can persuade them back into it. I have had conversations with several young men already. Two or three are very promising. Lord Chaldecott's second son, Henry Purfois, has read a great many fourth-rate books about magic and fifth-rate biographies of ma- gicians. It makes his conversation a little tedious, but he is scarcely to blame for that, poor fellow. Then there is William Hadley- Bright who was one of Wellington's
aides-de-camp
at Waterloo, and an odd little man called Tom Levy who is presently employed as a dancing-master in Norwich."

"A dancing-master?" frowned Sir Walter. "But is that really the sort of person whom we should be encouraging to take up magic? Surely it is a profession that ought to be reserved for gentlemen?"

"I do not see why. And besides I like Levy best. He is the first person I have met in years who regards magic as something to be enjoyed - and he is also the only one of the three who has managed to learn any practical magic. He made the window frame over there sprout branches and leaves. I dare say you were wondering why it is in that odd condition."

"To own the truth," said Sir Walter, "the room is so full of oddities that I had not even noticed."

"Of course Levy did not intend that it should remain like that," said Strange, "but after he did the magic he could not make it go back - and neither could I. I suppose I must tell Jeremy to find a carpenter to repair it."

"I am delighted you have found so many young men to suit you," said Sir Walter. "That bodes well for English magic."

"I have also had several applications from young ladies," said Strange.

"Ladies!" exclaimed Lord Portishead.

"Of course! There is no reason why women should not study magic. That is another of Norrell's fallacies."

"Hmm. They come thick and fast now," remarked Sir Walter. "What do?"

"Norrell's fallacies."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing! Nothing! Do not take offence. But I notice you do not mention taking any ladies as pupils yourself."

Strange sighed. "It is purely a matter of practicalities. That is all. A magician and his pupil must spend a great deal of time together, reading and discussing. Had Arabella not died, then I believe I might have taken female pupils. But now I would be obliged to rely upon chaperones and all sorts of tediousness that I do not have patience for at the moment. My own researches must come first."

"And what new magic are you intending to shew us, Mr Strange?" asked Lord Portishead, eagerly.

"Ah! I am glad you ask me that! I have been giving the matter a great deal of consideration. If the revival of English magic is to continue - or rather if it is not to remain under the sole direction of Gilbert Norrell - then I must learn something new. But new magic is not easily come by. I could go upon the King's Roads and try and reach those countries where magic is the general rule, rather than the exception."

"Good God!" exclaimed Sir Walter. "Not this again! Are you quite mad? I thought we had agreed that the King's Roads were far too dangerous to justify . . ."

"Yes, yes! I am well acquainted with your opinions. You lectured me long enough upon the subject. But you do not let me finish! I merely name possibilities. I shall not go upon the King's Roads. I gave my word to my . . . to Arabella that I would not."
³

There was a pause. Strange sighed and his expression dark- ened. He was clearly now thinking of something - or someone - else.

Sir Walter observed quietly, "I always had the highest regard for Mrs Strange's judgement. You cannot do better than follow her advice. Strange, I sympathize - of course you wish to do new magic - any scholar would - but surely the only safe way to learn magic is from books?"

"But I do not have any books!" exclaimed Strange. "Good God! I promise to be as meek and stay-at-home as any maiden aunt if the Government will just pass a law saying Norrell must shew me his library! But as the Government will not do me this kindness, I have no choice but to increase my knowledge in any way I can."

"So what will you do?" asked Lord Portishead.

"Summon a fairy," said Strange, briskly. "I have made several attempts already."

"Did not Mr Norrell lay it down as a general rule that summoning fairies is full of hazards?" asked Sir Walter.

"There is not much that Mr Norrell does not regard as full of hazards," said Strange in tones of some irritation.

"True." Sir Walter was satisfied. After all, summoning fairies was a long-established part of English magic. All the
Aureates
had done it and all the
Argentines
had wished to.

"But are you sure that it is even possible, sir?" asked Lord Portishead. "Most authorities agree that fairies hardly ever visit England any more."

"That is indeed the general opinion, yes," agreed Strange, "but I am almost certain that I was in company with one in November 1814, a month or two before Norrell and I parted."

"Were you indeed!" exclaimed Lord Portishead.

"You never mentioned this before," said Sir Walter.

"I was quite unable to mention it before," said Strange. "My position as Norrell's pupil depended upon my never breathing a word of it. Norrell would have fallen over in a blue fit at the least suggestion of such a thing."

"What did he look like, Mr Strange?" asked Lord Portishead.

"The fairy? I do not know. I did not see him. I heard him. He played music. There was someone else present who, I believe, both heard and saw him. Now, consider the advantages of dealing with such a person! No magician, living or dead, could teach me as much. Fairies are the source of everything we magicians desire. Magic is their native condition! As for the disadvantages, well, there is only the usual one - that I have almost no idea how to accomplish it. I have cast spells by the dozen, done everything I ever heard or read of, to try and get this fairy back again, but it has all been to no avail. I cannot for the life of me tell why Norrell expends so much energy in proscribing what no one can achieve. My lord, I don't suppose you know any spells for raising fairies?"