678 
MR. MAYHEW’S LETTER 
deemed advisable. I advance this suggestion with much hesita- 
tion, for the language of such men is not to be corrected by a hasty 
hand. When two Editors are employed to write a single sen- 
tence, it cannot be supposed that the obvious distinction between 
the active and the passive could be unknown. The purpose of 
the original as it stands, tiowever, is not quite clear ; but this is 
redeemed by the towering height of that which immediately suc- 
ceeds : “ We are decided and unanimous in opinion” is very grand. 
Two ordinary men, who were associated together in their daily 
duties, would have expressed their opinions, and left the world 
to imagine that when they spoke positively they were decided, 
or, when they came to the same conclusion, that they were of one 
mind. Two strangers might possibly have stated that they agreed 
on such or such a judgment. The Professors teach in the same 
school, practise in the same building, live in houses in the same 
street ; but, when they chance to accord, it seems to be no ordi- 
nary event. The fact is announced in words which teem with 
wonder, and read like an exclamation of surprise, — “We are de- 
cided and unanimous.” How powerful is the decision, especially 
when capped by the awful unanimity of two ! The expression 
mounts into the regions of poetry, and lives with the sublime. Two 
were decided and unanimous, or can it be that one was decided 
and the other was unanimous 1 It is not impossible such may 
have been the meaning intended : Mr. Spooner, perhaps, was de- 
cided, and Mr. Simonds was unanimous. A man unanimous with 
himself is not quite ridiculous, and the originality of such a mode 
of expression is remarkably fine. A person is not exactly him- 
self ; he and himself, on the contrary, are quite distinct, for some 
people talk to themselves, others lose themselves at times, and 
many individuals, when they catch themselves sleeping, rouse 
themselves up : consequently a man may agree with himself just as 
well as feel displeased with himself, which is not unusual. Per- 
fect agreement is no more than unanimity, and, if Mr. Simonds was 
quite self-satisfied, he only used a strong word when he announced 
himself as unanimous. There is a style and beauty in the expres- 
sion which deserves to be considered liberally. I do not cavil at the 
language ; I only regret that the occasion was not more worthy of its 
adornment, for “ that the said mare is three years off,” is common- 
place and poor — mean, and matter of fact. The animal should have 
been spoken of as Arabia’s child or Britain’s boast, in order to sup- 
port the strain ; and, instead of three years off, she ought to have 
been three hundred miles off. Let that be as it may, however, the 
fact is decided : only, when Professors come to a decision, it is not 
like to that of other men, for it is not final — it has a reservation and 
an explanation appended, which, of course, weakens its effect. So 
