compositions were marked by fluency and delicate taste, and his epigrams were admired; yet his English translations were deplorable. His defence of Euripides against the aspersions of A. W. Schlegel and his school was well reasoned, penetrating, and convincing. As an annotator of the Greek dramatists he exhibited intimacy with their diction, but showed no poetic imagination.
To the Homeric controversy Paley contributed a theory that the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ as we have them were first put together out of a general stock of traditions, either in or not long before the age of Pericles. His theory was not accepted in England, but attracted notice in Germany. Another theory in which he placed firm faith was the ‘Solar myth,’ which he introduced into his books at every opportunity, until at last he applied it to the exegesis of St. John's Gospel. In the ‘Journal of Philology’ (vol. x.) he wrote a paper ‘On certain engineering difficulties in Thucydides's account of the escape from Platæa,’ wherein he sought to prove that the story told by Thucydides is impossible, and to that end he made use of his knowledge of geology (cf. Classical Review, iv. 1). This article created a school of critics in Germany who impugn the credibility and accuracy of Thucydides. But Paley's opinion did not meet with general assent.
Paley's chief publications were:
- ‘The Church Restorers: a Tale treating of Ancient and Modern Architecture and Church Decoration,’ London, 1844, 8vo.
- ‘Ecclesiologist's Guide to Churches at Cambridge,’ 1844, 12mo.
- ‘Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts,’ 1844, 8vo; only part of the letterpress is his.
- ‘Æschyli quæ supersunt omnia,’ 1844–7, 7 pts.; in one vol. 1850. This work laid the foundation of Paley's reputation as a Greek scholar.
- ‘Manual of Gothic Mouldings,’ 1845, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1847; 3rd ed. with additions by W. M. Fawcett, M.A., 1865; 4th ed. 1877; 5th ed. 1891.
- ‘Manual of Gothic Architecture,’ 1846, 12mo.
- ‘A Brief Review of the Arguments alleged in Defence of the Protestant Position,’ London, 1848, 8vo.
- ‘On the Architecture of Peterborough Cathedral,’ Peterborough, 1849, 8vo.
- ‘Propertius, with English Notes,’ London, 1853, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1872.
- ‘Ovid's Fasti,’ 1854, 12mo, 2nd ed. 1886; bks. i. and iii. 1888.
- ‘The Tragedies of Æschylus, with English Notes,’ London, 1855, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1861; 3rd ed. 1870; 4th ed. 1879. This is the first of Paley's contributions to the ‘Bibliotheca Classica.’
- ‘The Tragedies of Euripides,’ 3 vols. London, 1857, &c.; 2nd ed. 1872, &c.
- ‘Æschylus: a Recension of the Text,’ Cambridge, 1858, 16mo; ‘Cambridge Greek and Latin Texts.’
- ‘A few Words on Wheat-ears,’ London, 1859.
- ‘Notes on twenty Parish Churches round Peterborough,’ 1859.
- ‘Flora of Peterborough,’ 1860.
- ‘The Epics of Hesiod, with English Notes,’ London, 1861, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1883. For this work Paley read fourteen manuscripts.
- ‘Theocritus, with short Latin Notes,’ Cambridge, 1863, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1869.
- ‘A Prose Translation of Æschylus,’ London, 1864, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1871.
- ‘The Iliad of Homer, with English Notes,’ 2 vols. London, 1866, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1884.
- ‘Verse Translations from Propertius, Book Five, with Revised Latin Text and brief English Notes,’ London, 1866, 8vo.
- ‘Homer's Iliad, I.–XII.,’ 1867, school edition.
- ‘Homer's Iliad, I.–XII.: Recension of the Text,’ Cambridge, 1867, 16mo.
- ‘On the Late Date and Composite Character of our Ilias and Odyssey,’ 1868, 4to.
- ‘Select Epigrams of Martial,’ with W. D. Stone, Cambridge, 1868, 8vo.
- ‘The Odes of Pindar, translated into English Prose, with Introduction and Notes,’ 1868, 8vo.
- ‘Religious Tests and National Universities,’ 1871, 8vo.
- ‘Aristotle's Ethics, V., X., translated into English,’ 1872, 8vo.
- ‘Architectural Notes on Cartmel Priory Church,’ Cartmel, 1872, 8vo.
- ‘Aristophanes' Peace, with English Notes,’ 1873.
- ‘Plato's Philebus, translated with Notes,’ 1873, 8vo.
- ‘Select private Orations of Demosthenes,’ with J. E. Sandys, 2 vols. Cambridge, 1874, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1886.
- ‘Milton's Lycidas, with a version in Latin Hexameters,’ 1874.
- ‘Various Readings in Demosthenes De falsa legatione, for the Cambridge Philological Society,’ 1874.
- ‘Plato's Theætetus, translated with Notes,’ 1875, 8vo.
- ‘Aristophanes' Acharnians, with English Notes,’ 1876, 8vo.
- ‘Homerus Periclis ætate quinam habitus sit quæritur,’ 1877.
- ‘Commentatio in scholia Æschyli Medicea,’ Cambridge, 1878, 8vo.
- ‘Aristophanes' Frogs, with English Notes,’ 1878.
- ‘Homeri quæ nunc extant an reliquis Cycli carminibus antiquiora jure habita sint,’ London, 1878, 8vo.
- ‘Quintus Smyrnæus, and the “Homer” of the Tragic Poets,’ London, 1879.
- ‘On Post-Epic or Imitative Words in Homer,’ London, 1879.
- ‘Greek Wit: Smart Sayings from Greek Prose Writings,’ two series, 1880–1, 12mo.
- ‘Sophocles, with English Notes,’ London, 1880, 8vo; vol. ii. of Blaydes's edition.
- ‘Poems by Alfred, Lord Braye, edited with a Pre-
