Despite such enticements as these, Mr Norrell declined Mr Drawlight’s kind offer to take him to see Vinculus in his yellow booth.

“And what is your opinion of the Raven King, Mr Norrell?” asked Mrs Littleworth eagerly.

“I have none. He is a person I never think of.”

“Indeed?” remarked Mr Lascelles. “You will excuse my saying so, Mr Norrell, but that is rather an extraordinary statement. I never met a magician yet who did not declare that the Black King was the greatest of them all – the magician par excellence! A man who could, had he so desired, have wrested Merlin from the tree, spun the old gentleman on his head and put him back in again.”²

Mr Norrell said nothing.

“But surely,” continued Mr Lascelles, “none of the other Aureates could rival his achievements? Kingdoms in all the worlds that ever were.³ Bands of human knights and fairy knights to carry out his bidding. Magic woods that walked about. To say nothing of his longevity – a three-hundred-year reign – and at the end of it we are told that he was still, in appearance at least, a young man.”

Mr Norrell said nothing.

“But perhaps you think that the histories lie? I have frequently heard it suggested that the Raven King never existed – that he was not one magician at all, but a long train of magicians, all looking much the same. Perhaps that is what you think?”

Mr Norrell looked as if he would prefer to remain silent, but the directness of Mr Lascelles’s question obliged him to give a reply. “No,” he said at last, “I am quite certain that he existed. But I cannot consider his influence upon English magic as any thing other than deplorable. His magic was of a particularly pernicious sort and nothing would please me more than that he should be forgot as completely as he deserves.”

“And what of your fairy-servants, sir?” said Mr Lascelles. “Are they visible only to yourself? Or may other people perceive them?”

Mr Norrell sniffed and said he had none.

“What none?” exclaimed a lady in a carnation-pink gown, much surprized.

“You are wise, Mr Norrell,” said Mr Lascelles. “Tubbs versus Starhouse must stand as a warning to all magicians.”⁴

“Mr Tubbs was no magician,” said Mr Norrell. “Nor did I ever hear that he claimed to be one. But had he been the greatest magician in Christendom, he would still have been wrong to wish for the company of fairies. A more poisonous race or one more inimical to England has never existed. There have been far too many magicians too idle or ignorant to pursue a proper course of study, who instead bent all their energies upon acquiring a fairy-servant – and when they had got such a servant they depended upon him to complete all their business for them. English history is full of such men and some, I am glad to say, were punished for it as they deserved. Look at Bloodworth.”⁵