Crawford was born in 1754 in Italy. He lived in New England and in 1879 he moved to India. He later returned to the United States to study Sanskrit at Harvard. He wrote over 40 romances but is best known for his stories of horror and the occult. The children of the king do not have an easy life. They need extra love and understanding. The Children of the King begins: "Lay your course southeast half east from the Campanella. If the weather is what it should be in late summer you will have a fresh breeze on the starboard quarter from ten in the morning till four or five o'clock in the afternoon. Sail straight across the wide gulf of Salerno, and when you are over give the Licosa Point a wide berth, for the water is shallow and there are reefs along shore. Moreover there is no light on Licosa Point, and many a good ship has gone to pieces there in dark winter nights when the surf is rolling in."