ruefulnessn.

c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 600 Þolomodnesse & reowfulnesse of euch monnes sorhe.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 271 Ne schal ha..ne halde richt hire chastete wið ute..heorte þeawes. diuociun reufulnesse [c1230 Corpus Reowfulnesse; a1300 Caius Reuhfulnesse; a1250 Nero reoufulnesse; a1400 Pepys rewfuls] luue edmodnesse.

c1390 Charter Abbey Holy Ghost (Laud) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 338 (MED) In whiche abbeye..schulde dwellen xxix gostly ladyes..Resoun & Reufulnesse, Meditacion & Orisoun.

c1440 (?a1375) Abbey Holy Ghost (Thornton) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 53 Rewfulnes sall make the fermorye.

?1567 M. Parker Whole Psalter cxxx. 383 Let Jacob wayt: the Lord so gent, Because with God: is ruefulnes.

?1574 C. Vitell tr. ‘Fidelitas’ Distinct Declar. Requiring of Lorde iv. sig. C4 Ther shall not be any Singinge heard therin, to the Ioyfulnes of Life, but all Bewayling and Rufulnes and Seekinge of Death.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. iv. sig. D3^v He..Well could daunce, and sing with ruefulnesse.

1595 W. Hubbock Apol. Infants 26 Haue we so learned Christ? are his lawes so ful of ruefulnes?

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iv. xv. 420 The rufulnesse of this sight was seconded with a more dismall euent.

1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle II. lx. 177 He could not..vanquish the ruefulness of his countenance.

1794 J. Lettice Lett. Tour Scotl. x. 160 The ruefulness of their visages, expressed much more pain or body, than devotion of spirit.

1842 C. Dickens Amer. Notes II. viii. 234 Some, growing bold in ruefulness, predicted that we should land about the middle of July.

1876 Times 22 May 6/1 The ruefulness of the chubby face is at least well caught.

1894 M. Dyan All in Man's Keeping (1899) 299 ‘Not exactly,’ said Lanyon, with hesitating ruefulness.

1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer ii. v. 258 Pete smiled as he remembered, but with a certain ruefulness as well as amusement; for he too had taken this sort of thing with the seriousness its verbiage seemed to demand.

1971 E. T. James et al. Notable Amer. Women I. 4/1 Grace Abbott greeted the New Deal with enthusiasm mingled with a certain ironic ruefulness. ‘I am beginning to feel quite unnecessary,’ she wrote in April 1933.

2007 W. Sheed House that George Built 72 So Ira's ruefulness was apparently compounded with guilt and he had no inner fire to fight it with.