Dreamditch
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Dreamditch was a magician employed by the stepmother of Mrs Wintertowne in an effort to preserve the health of the three children left to her charge on the death of her husband. He was, on Mrs Wintertowne's testimony, an ineffectual and foolish charlatan of low origins. (She scornfully describes him as having "a face like a dog" and being "the son of a leather-tanner"; but my readers will not need reminding that humble birth is no barrier to success in magic, for the great Dr Pale was likewise the son of a leather-tanner.)
Mrs Wintertowne is at first very strong in her scorn for Dreamditch and his efforts on behalf of herself, her brother and sister: "For years I thought him a wicked man, but in the end ...I knew him to be nothing but a sad and pitiful fool"[6]. Her contempt for this wretch shades naturally into a contempt for all magicians, an opinion she expresses with her usual firmness. Later however, when her daughter has died and the magician Mr Norrell is her only hope of having her child restored to her, Mrs Wintertowne quite alters her mind about the profession, telling Drawlight of "a magician she had known in her childhood, a most talented person and devoted friend to all her family..."[7].
Mrs Wintertowne is at first very strong in her scorn for Dreamditch and his efforts on behalf of herself, her brother and sister: "For years I thought him a wicked man, but in the end ...I knew him to be nothing but a sad and pitiful fool"[6]. Her contempt for this wretch shades naturally into a contempt for all magicians, an opinion she expresses with her usual firmness. Later however, when her daughter has died and the magician Mr Norrell is her only hope of having her child restored to her, Mrs Wintertowne quite alters her mind about the profession, telling Drawlight of "a magician she had known in her childhood, a most talented person and devoted friend to all her family..."[7].