grandezzan.

1629 J. Mabbe tr. C. de Fonseca Deuout Contempl. xli. 636 Ovr Sauiour Christ knowing that the houre was now come; For which were reserued Gods greatest Grandezas [Sp. grandezas], or Greatnesses.

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iii. xvii. 74 Amongst other Grandezas which the King of Spain conferd upon our Prince, one was the releasment of prisoners.

1652 J. Hall tr. Longinus Περι Ὑψους 39 They are overshadowed with Grandezza's and beauties.

1675 H. Teonge Diary (1825) 87 This island [sc. Cyprus]..had in it 30 cittys, of which there still remaine many worthy memorables of their pristin grandetsa's.

1692 tr. M.-C. d'Aulnoy 3rd Pt. Ingenious Lett.: Trav. Spain xii. 92 There was not either Justice, Burgess, or Tradesman, which was not presently fill'd with vehement Ambitious desires for the Grandeza his House was crowded with all sorts of People.

?1725 Harangues Famous Mountebanks 51 I ask you not near the Value of the Thing, for then I should ask you a thousand Ducats; so several Grandees and Grandeza's have given me.

1839 Mirror of Lit. 3 Aug. 76/1 A ludicrous occurrence happened in the height of his ‘grandezza’.

1883 Harper's Mag. Aug. 373/1 Carrying himself with proud self-possession and perfect grandezza.

1912 A. W. Ward in Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lit. VIII. 41 Dryden, with the grandezza habitual to him, was careless about fitting the secondary figures of his satire exactly with their Scriptural aliases.

1987 R. Hall Kisses of Enemy iv. c. 552 The man inclined his head to listen, an indescribable nobility in the restrained grandezza of his courtesy.

2005 Time Out N.Y. 8 Dec. 24/3 Soprano Barbara Frittoli is also a musician of depth and old-school grandezza.