a study of German military pride against the background of the Black Forest, and The Cigarette-Maker's Romance (1890), rapid, exciting, moving, transacts its charming drama among the artisans of Munich; In the Palace of the King (1900) is a chapter from the romantic history of Don John of Austria; Fair Margaret (1905) and its sequels The Primadonna (1908) and The Diva's Ruby (1908) all concern themselves with European—chiefly English—musical life; Marion Darche (1893), Katherine Lauderdale (1894), and its sequel The Ralstons (1895) have their scenes laid, though not always convincingly, in and about New York.
On the whole, however, the Italian novels are best of all, though several of them which Crawford wrote toward the end of his life add little to the total sum. The Children of the King (1892), recounting the fatal love of a common sailor for a lady, glows with the romantic ardor which temporarily satisfies all but the sternest realistic dispositions. Pietro Ghisleri (1893), as lifelike and vigorous a book as any Crawford wrote, seems to derive some power from its connection with the Saracinesca group. Saracinesca (188), Sant' Ilario (1889), Don Orsino (1892), and Corleone (1896) have all helped one another to reputation by the fact that they make up a cycle dealing generally with the same persons and centered about the fortunes of one great patriarchal house. In the first of the series Giovanni Saracinesca, only son of the old Prince of that name, loves and wins Corona d'Astrardente, whom the Roman world holds to be unquestionably the most superb woman in Europe. In Sant' Ilario, Giovanni, who is also Prince of Sant’
