My learned friend, Dr Adam, has favoured me with the following defence of Dryden's phrase: "With respect to the title which that great poet gives to his elegy on the death of Charles, making allowance for the taste of the times and the licence of poets in framing names, I see no just foundation for Johnson's criticism on the epithet _Augustalis_. _Threnodia_ is a word purely Greek, used by no Latin author; and _Augustalis_ denotes, 'in honour of Augustus;' thus, _ludi Augustales_, games instituted in honour of Augustis, _Tac. An._ 1, 15 and 54; so _sacerdotes_ vel _sodales Augustales_, ib. and 2, 83. Hist. 2, 95. Now as _Augustus_ was a name given to the succeeding emperors, I see no reason, why _Augustalis_ may not be used to signify, 'in honour of any king.' Besides, the very word _Augustus_ denotes, 'venerable, august, royal:' and therefore _Threnodia Augustalis_ may properly be put for, 'An Elegy in honour of an august Prince." The full title declared the poem to be written "by John Dryden, servant to his late majesty, and to the present king;" a style which our author did not generally assume, but which the occasion rendered peculiarly proper. The poem appears to have been popular, as it went through two editions in the course of 1685. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 37: The following Nœnia, among others, occur in Mr Luttrell's Collection: "A Pindarick Ode, by Sir F. F. Knight of the Bath." "A Pindarick Ode on the Death of our late Sovereign, with an ancient Prophecy on his present Majesty, by Afra Behn." "A Poem, humbly dedicated to the Great Pattern of Piety and Virtue, Catherine, Queen Dowager, on the Death of her dear Lord and Husband, King Charles II. By the Same. (4th April, 1685.)" "The Vision, a Pindarick Ode, by Edmund Arwaker, M. A." "The Second Part of Ditto, on the Coronation of James and Mary." This author poured forth a similar effusion upon the death of Queen Mary. "A Pindarick Ode on the Death of Charles II, by J. H." "Ireland's Tears to the sacred Memory of our late Dread Sovereign, King Charles II., 11th April, 1685." "_Pietas universitatis Oxoniensis in obitum augustissimi et desideratissimi Regis Caroli Secundi._" Duke, and others, also invoked Melpomene on this mournful occasion: but, perhaps, the most remarkable of all these lamentations is, "The Quaker's Elegy on the Death of Charles, late King of England, written by W. P. a sincere lover of Charles and James; (31st March, 1685.)" "Tears wiped off, a Second Part, on the Coronation, (22d April.)" This curious dirge begins thus: