New-York tribune., 1901-01-26
o NJ. CRAWFORD'S VIEWS.
-HF NOVELIST THINKS SOMETHING
NEW is COMING IN LITERATURE.
But DOESN'T KNOW WHAT.

,s.erday a Tribune reporter found him on the
80 aoor Of a lower Fifth-ave building. in the
s,,ous office which he has chosen for and fitted
.s his literary workshop. He had no announce
.r+ 70 make as 10 what material he was az pres-
-. engaged upon. but talked pleasantly on lii
.-s,ure and dramatic art in general, with much
.ssental gossip Of Rome and Italy.
.srbe weather in Rome he said. has been rara
/, ssvere They have had no winter ike this since
= v,nter Of 1890. On January 10 when We went
s-o-, Rome 10 Naples. TO embark on the Hohen-
,uarr the country covered with snow for
ore than half the way. I don't think the people
.-s have any idea Of the seriousness Of the floods
.A.t afflicted Rome just before Christmas The
.,r was inundated to such an extent that food
t.s 10 be taken in boats to the people You know
pome has always been subject 10 these overhows
eor,e time after 1870 the work of the erba nments
as undertaken by the Government and carried
through 10 an extent which. / believe. has made
,bs last inundation much less disastrous than Ii
vpould otherwise have been. But the whole trouble
&c not with the Tiber there is what is called there
,be lost water-water that gets into the city
through old. forgotten aqueducts and all sorts OF
WAYS not generally known. All this water under
mines the land and when a flood comes, il springs
I'D in cellars and other aV kward places"
How are the people taking TO their King.
Victor Emmanuel IL" was asked.
Much better, I think. than was expected. The
peasants in particular say that he is a real
King: he'll do something for then. Humbert was
an easy going fellow. To look his portrait you
would have taken him 10 he a terribly ferocious
notentate and full of energy. In reality, he was
very exceptionally tender hearted country gentle
man who cared little about the work of statecraft.
This King. on the contrary-I met him several
times when he was Prince of Naples-looks like
thin weak man, who cannot possibly exert him
sslf 10 any great degree. when as a matter of
fact he is always eXerting himself. and never
seems 10 be any the worse for il or to need rest
re is capable, too and splendidy educated. His
nj hN-
English Catholic and of the highest learn
ing Oh, yes. the present King of Italy IS not by
any means a freethinker, whatever idea people
NAV have derived from the antagonism with the
Holy See in temporal affairs into which the House
OF Savoy has been thrown by circumstances. King
Humbert. although il may not be generally known.
received the last sacraments and died in full favor
with the Church. and his son is a devout and
orthodox Catholic"
Mr. Crawford as every one knows who has en-
,oyed his novels understands better than most
non.Romans the actual stete OF feeling among the
princely houses of Rome TO the division OF tenn
poral and spiritual allegiance TO the Pope In re-
gard TO the recent utterance of the Duke OF Nor
folk concerning the restoration OF the temporal
sovereignty Of Leo KILL which aroused so much
excited comment in the English press, he says
that ne himself evidence Of any great sur u
fn Rome The position of the Duke as a black.
or advocate Of the Pope's temporal power is thor
Oughy taken for granted there. ...,,.. ~. Eng
ish pilgrimage TO the Holy See came after all the
others because the English were angry at me posi-
ZION OF the Roman Curla IN regard 70 ls IIS PoTa N
war but the Duke Of Norfolk himself couid r5 nave
had 10 such motive, because he had been IN home
his own account some time before me Piigrlhii
age arrived i don't even know that the Ou4lA IL
their attitude which i don't think is gene7rIa,ly
understood abroad Al s ms n ti
Papal, are strongly sympathetic with every move
ment that has the appearance 10 , men oi OTis +
dency Perhaps you don't know that in The days OF
austrian IRAN ION a49e MEN % Pe Nono That was
when the Pope was himself som .tnlhg OF re
regard the British in South Africa as representns
autocracy and the Beers as hghung for repub-
lcan ideas. If the Boers are ogoted Caivlnists
and have been hard on Catholics in their eoun{5!,
The fact has not been brought home to the ho-
THE feelings of the Romans in matters OF
GndaFsand dS For an example, take the case Of the
present. Prince CSionna % me aTstsrv nead ar P PRINCE
sistsnIs OF the Holy See, the head OF the house OF
0rsini being the other. But the Colonne have been
whlte-or Ghibelne, which is much the same
thing-for seven hundred years, more or less, aIlo
was sn ofiicer in the Italian army, And yet as
soon his father died the young Prince @ Io9k on
costume of his hereditary ottice; And now ne ne
occasions of state, and never goes near the Sulri-
nal although his brother is Mayor OF Rome.
having reached Rome day too late 10 see the
ceremony OF closing the Holy Door. which he says
Coming 10 more recent events and speaking Of the
dramatic OUTLOOK as II Is Lhe;E 70 pe C.at rii -
saof course, the death of the Queen has sad
dened England. and viii put a stop 10 the theat-
ricsl business for some time over there. Her own
people mourn for her. and can't imagine any one
Of friend Of the whole civilized world As 10 the
theatrical outlook here, the whole season, i un-
eerstand. has been poor qne we nave & 2een
but am told Il has not oeen seheraIIy a prosper
Gus season, and ] don't why il should have
been otherwise; there has been hnanclal prosperity
But Tor some tllne 10 come can see Why lne
theatres are not likely to be very wei ATTENDED
There is likely 10 pe STATE OF uhceIialhlg IN me
business world long as the new King, Edward
IN a poke-nobody is quite sure what he is likely
70 do or what may result from his doings and as
long there is that uncertainty financial condl-
tons viii be unfaVOrabe to the spending OF much
money on the luxuries Of life
the Palace OF the king E9s very much @ pleased q
IS NOT a drama tization ! arranged the scenario
with Miss Allen in Italy, before had written
before had finished my work 1 90 not believe in
oramatizaron: IL is an artistic mistake, think
an author should not be hampered' in writing a
book by having TO consider whether il will 3 drama
rze wen; on the other hanq gooG noNe1 % WI I'LL noe
good sailing ship viii necessarily make a good
Mentioning the opinion not long ago attributed
70 leading theatrical manager, that the present
Crawford d-stoddard production is the latest and
ene e of me most successful would BE- the ~ aSt I9r
lar taste 10 some other genre was imminent. the
I know he replied, that I. for won't try
another sword and cloak play. / can't tell you,
though, what direction the public taste IS likely 10
take. The religious drama certainly has a future.
Il was leading Hebrew manager. believe, who
said lately that In future he would have no plays
but Christian plays. But then. II literary peo-
pie could really guess what direction the popular
fancy was going 10 take we should be sitting up
all night. writing suit it-and wouldn't tell
other people what we knew, either. Did ever
see collection of interviews with great writer's BY
jacques Huret? There is very interesting inter
view there with Zola. iE which Zola SAYS he Is
convinced that something new is TO cone in
popular literary forms, though what II is he him
self did know. and he was too Old 70 undertake
70 find Il out I fancy literary man feels
soner hing Of that kind just now-something new IS