The siege of Troy can be told without mention of Leda's egg.

But if Froude had given a little more time to Henry VII., and all that followed the Battle of Bosworth, he would have approached the fall of Wolsey and the rise of Cromwell with a more thorough understanding of cause and effect.

His mind moved with great rapidity, and went so directly to the point that the circumstances were not always fully weighed.

It is possible to see the truth too clearly, without allowance for drawbacks and qualifications.

The important fact about Henry, for instance, is that he was a statesman who had to provide for a peaceful succession.