Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Mr Segundus, putting his head out of a third-storey window in Lady-Peckitt's-yard, thought that perhaps Norrell had already done the magic and this was it. The History and Practice of English Magic, by Jonathan Strange, vol. But this was only the magic of Napoleon Buonaparte, who knew better than any one how to dress his soldiers so they would terrify the enemy, and how to deploy them so that any onlooker would think them indestructible. Now that they had finally met, Strange's unconcern was utterly bewildering.