Qui in Filio nobis reliquit
Perfectum humilitatis exemplar.
Factus est obediens Patri.
Et ipsa etiam natura parentibus
Et patrie obediendum docuit.’
This ring he intended to bestow on the Princess Mary, but apparently the King got wind of the plan and put a stop to it, taking the ring away from his minister, on the plea that he desired to have the honour of presenting it to his daughter himself. The episode should have been sufficient to show that even if Cromwell had any idea of marrying the Princess, the King’s opposition to the plan would prove insurmountable. The inscription on the ring, moreover, surely indicates that the gift was intended rather as a reminder to the Princess of her duty towards her father, than as a preliminary to a matrimonial proposal. Cal. xi. 148.
[316] Letters, 150.
[317] Cal. xi. 147.
[318] Cal. vi. 913, 981, 1011, 1014.
[319] Cal. xii. (ii) 423.