Whewell refers to this charge in his "Elements of Morality" (citing Paley in its support).

But the affair had plainly been less nefarious than reported by Don Paley to Ed Seaver.

He furnishes Paley with the idea for his well-known illustration of the man who finds a watch; "when we see a dial or a water-clock, we believe that the hour is shown thereon by art, and not by chance".