THE OPTIMISM OF EMERSON.—By Wm. F. Dana. (_Cupples, Upham & Co., Boston, 1886._) Price 50 c. cloth. For sale by Brentano, Union Square, New York. The author seeks to account for the optimism of Emerson by his “cheerful disposition,” and for his influence in literature by the action of that cheerfulness upon “an age of intellectual gloom” due to “England, France, Germany and Italy, having taken a despairing view of life.” The cause of nineteenth century pessimism Mr. Dana sums up thus: “The root of our difficulties is the fact that we have lost faith in a revealed religion. We do not believe the Bible to be an inspired book, hence, we have to form a religion by ourselves out of the material within us and about us. It has seemed impossible to us, unless we abandoned our reason, to believe, that what appear to us _good and evil_ could be _all good_.” Mr. Dana, though evidently a sincere admirer of Emerson, confesses that he gave the world no new revelation, either in religion or philosophy, and he compares his influence to the moonlight, rather than the sunlight. But if Emerson left the mystery of life unsolved, he influenced men’s emotional nature for good by reason of the cheerful, hopeful tone of his own mind, which, by setting up sympathetic vibrations in the hearts of others, gave them a renewed assurance that “the sun is shining behind the clouds,” and that apparent evil is but real good in disguise. * * * * * PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION.—A series of articles on the “Philosophy of Religion from the Standpoint of the Mystics,” prepared by C. H. A. Bjerregaard of the Astor Library, will be published forthwith, in the _Religio Philosophical Journal_. * * * * * THE SONG CELESTIAL OR BAGAVAD-GITA, tr. from the Sanscrit by Edwin Arnold, M. A. (_Roberts Brothers, Boston._) Cloth $1.00. This is a poetical rendering by a master hand, of the greatest of books, and by many will be more easily understood than the present extant prose editions of Wilkins, Thomson, and others. But its power and beauty depend upon the inherent qualities of the poem, and an indifferent hand at the work could not spoil it: how much more it will be for its readers, under the touch of Mr. Arnold, is easy to see, for he is a scholar, a philosopher, and a true singer. So much exoterically.