The _Life of Henry VII._, published in 1622, is, in the opinion of
Hallam, “the first instance in our language of the application of
philosophy to reasoning on public events in the manner of the ancients
and the Italians. Praise upon Henry is too largely bestowed; but it was
in the nature of Bacon to admire too much a crafty and selfish policy;
and he thought also, no doubt, that so near an ancestor of his own
sovereign should not be treated with severe impartiality.”[39]