In our judgment of human transactions, the law of optics is reversed; we see the most indistinctly the objects which are close around us.

In 1829 Whately was elected to the professorship of political economy at Oxford in succession to Nassau William Senior. Behind the scenes Thomas Hyde Villiers had lobbied Denis Le Marchant on his behalf with the Brougham Whigs. Among his other works may be mentioned Charges and Tracts (1836) Essays on Some of the Dangers to Christian Faith (1839) The Kingdom of Christ (1841).