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“The author shows steady and constant improvement in his art. ‘Sant’ Ilario' is a continuation of the chronicles of the Saracinesca family. A singularly powerful and beautiful story. Admirably developed, with a naturalness beyond praise. It must rank with ‘Greifenstein’ as the best work the author has produced. It fulfils every requirement of artistic fiction. It brings out what is most impressive in human action, without owing any of its effectiveness to sensationalism or artifice. It is natural, fluent in evolution, accordant with experience, graphic in description, penetrating in analysis, and absorbing in interest.”—New York Tribune.

“It is a touching romance, filled with scenes of great dramatic power.”—Boston Commercial Bulletin.

“It is full of life and movement, and is one of the best of Mr. Crawford's books,”—Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.

“The interest is unflagging throughout. Never has Mr. Crawford done more brilliant realistic work than here. But his realism is only the case and cover for those intense feelings which, placed under no matter what humble conditions, produce the most dramatic and the most tragic situations. This is a secret of genius, to take the most coarse and common material, the meanest surroundings, the most sordid material prospects, and out of the vehement passions which sometimes dominate all human beings to build up with these poor elements scenes and passages, the dramatic and emotional power of which at once enforce attention and awaken the profoundest interest.”—New York Tribune.

“The story is powerful, it is pervaded by fine poetic feeling, is picturesque to a remarkable degree, and the local colour is extraordinary in its force and truth. Of the many admirable contributions to the literature of fiction that Mr. Crawford has made, this book is, on the whole, the most artistic in construction and finish, and the thorough artist is apparent at every stage of the story. His plot is intensely dramatic, but he has never permitted it to sway him to the extent of slighting any of the more minute details under the impulse of merely telling what he has to tell. He holds his theme firmly in hand and controls instead of being controlled by it. The characters have been drawn with the greatest care, and stand out in bold relief and fine contrast. The atmosphere of the East is in every page, in every utterance.”—Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.

“Mr. Crawford has written in many keys, but never in so strange a one as that which dominates ‘The Witch of Prague.’ The artistic skill with which this extraordinary story is constructed and carried out is admirable and delightful. Mr. Crawford has scored a decided triumph, for the interest of the tale is sustained throughout. A very remarkable, powerful, and interesting story.”—New York Tribune.