Strange waved a fork impatiently at the Minister. “But all that is politics. It is nothing to do with me. I am not going to call for the re-establishment of John Uskglass’s kingdom. My only wish is to examine, in a calm and rational manner, his accomplishments as a magician. How can we restore English magic until we understand what it is we are supposed to be restoring?”

“Then study the Aureates, but leave John Uskglass in the obscurity in which Norrell has placed him.”

Strange shook his head. “Norrell has poisoned your minds against John Uskglass. Norrell has bewitched you all.”

They ate in silence for a while and then Strange said, “Did I ever tell you that there is a portrait of him at Windsor Castle?”

“Who?”

“Uskglass. A fanciful scene painted upon a wall of one of the state rooms by some Italian painter. It shews Edward III and John Uskglass – warrior-king and magician-king seated side by side. It has been almost four hundred years since John Uskglass went out of England and still the English cannot quite make up their minds whether to adore him or hate him.”

“Ha!” exclaimed Sir Walter. “In the north they know exactly what to think of him. They would exchange the rule of Westminster for his rule tomorrow if they could.”⁶

A week or so later the first issue of The Famulus was published and, owing to the sensational nature of one of the articles, the entire run sold out within two days. Mr Murray, who was soon to publish the first volume of Strange’s The History and Practice of English Magic, was filled with a happy anticipation of making a very large profit. The article which so thrilled the public was a description of how magicians might summon up dead people for the purposes of learning useful information from them. This shocking (but deeply interesting) subject caused such a sensation that several young ladies were reported to have fainted merely upon learning that The Famulus was in the house.⁷ No one could imagine Mr Norrell ever approving such a publication and so every body who did not like Mr Norrell took a particular pleasure in buying a copy.

In Hanover-square Mr Lascelles read it out loud for the benefit of Mr Norrell. “ ‘… Where the magician is deficient in skill and knowledge – and this must include all modern magicians, our National Genius in such matters being sadly fallen off from what it was in former times – then he or she might be best advised to conjure up the spirit of someone who was in life a magician or had at least some talent for the art. For, if we are uncertain of the path ourselves, it is best to call on someone in possession of a little knowledge and who is able, as it were, to meet us halfway.’ ”

“He will undo every thing!” cried Norrell with a wild passion. “He is determined to destroy me!”