11 FEBRUARY 1865, Page 23

Poems. By John Greet. (F. Pitman.)—This "little volume" con- tains

a poem on the burning of the Amazon, and we learn that when the mate gave the alarm of fire,— " The moon for fear has shrank within her interlunar cave, Nor sea-gulls dip their plumes beneath the iris-tinctured wave. The awe-struck night, with black portent, bemoans the seaman's lot, While frighted mermaids haste in quest of far-off coral grot.

The whale with giant paddle cuts a track athwart the deep, And polypi whole fathoms down their nightly vigils keep."

Now what seems odd is the conduct of the sea-galls. Nothing could be more prudent than the proceedings of the moon, mermaids, and polypi. Of course the seagulls could not go "whole fathoms down," but when they were near a burning ship not to dip their plumes even in an iris-tinctured wave, whatever that may be, seems a mere tempting of Providence. Nor is the whale's conduct quite free from ambiguity. We should also be glad to know what is " etillicidious rain," and why in December "the dead year, swathed in cerements gram, asks of the mournful muse an epieedium." The •lems are dedicated to the poet Tapper. Perhaps he knows.