The short juvenile drolleries of his restless youth are the least defective as works of art; and, being brief and simple _jeux d'esprit_ of a rare order, they are entirely successful and infinitely amusing. _Ixion in Heaven_, _The Infernal Marriage_, and _Popanilla_, are astonishing products of a lad of twenty-three, who knew nothing of English society, and who had had neither regular education nor social opportunities. They have been compared with the social satirettes of Lucian, Swift, and Voltaire. It is true they have not the fine touch and exquisite polish of the witty Greek of Samosata, nor the subtle irony of Voltaire and Montesquieu, nor the profound grasp of the Dean. But they are full of wit, observation, sparkle, and fun. The style is careless and even incorrect, but it is full of point and life. The effects are rather stagey, and the smartness somewhat strained--that is, if these boyish trifles are compared with _Candide_ and the _Lettres Persanes_. As pictures of English society, court, and manners in 1827 painted in fantastic apologues, they are most ingenious, and may be read again and again. The _Infernal Marriage_, in the vein of the _Dialogues of the Dead_, is the most successful. _Ixion_ is rather broader, simpler, and much more slight, but is full of boisterous fun. _Popanilla_, a more elaborate satire in direct imitation of _Gulliver's Travels_, is neither so vivacious nor so easy as the smaller pieces, but it is full of wit and insight. Nothing could give a raw Hebrew lad the sustained imagination and passion of Jonathan Swift; but there are few other masters of social satire with whom the young genius of twenty-three can be compared. These three satires, which together do not fill 200 pages, are read and re-read by busy and learned men after nearly seventy years have passed. And that is in itself a striking proof of their originality and force.