_Ixion_ is too obscurely put to attain its end with the general public.

But it may be recommended, though vainly, to those theologians who, hungry for the Divine Right of torture, build their God, like Caliban, out of their own minds; who, foolish enough to believe that the everlasting endurance of evil is a necessary guarantee of the everlasting endurance of good, are still bold and bad enough to proclaim the abominable lie of eternal punishment.

They need that spirit the little child whom Christ placed in the midst of his disciples; and in gaining which, after living the life of the lover, the warrior, the poet, the statesman, _Jochanan Hakkadosh_ found absolute peace and joy.

Few poems contain more of Browning's matured theory of life than this of the Jewish Rabbi; and its seriousness is happily mingled with imaginative illustrations and with racy wit.

The sketch of Tsaddik, who puts us in mind of Wagner in the _Faust_, is done with a sarcastic joy in exposing the Philistine, and with a delight in its own cleverness which is fascinating.
_Ferishtah's Fancies_ and _Parleyings with Certain People_ followed _Jocoseria_ in 1884 and 1887.