stubbornnessn.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 475/1 Styburnesse, austeritas, ferocitas.

1467–8 Rolls of Parl. V. 621/2 Because of the gretnesse and stobournesse of the same Wolle.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 277/2 Stubbernesse, contumace.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. xiii. 17 Yf ye wil not heare me..I will mourne fro my whole herte for youre stubburnesse.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lvi^v Some for their stony stubbernes and mad obstinacy were adjudged to dye.

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. i. 19 Happy is your Grace That can translate the stubbornnesse of fortune Into so quiet and so sweet a stile. View more context for this quotation

1680 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. x. 190 A thick String..having a strength and stubbornness proportionable to its size, it will not comply closely to a piece of Work of small Diameter.

1700 J. Dryden To my Kinsman J. Driden in Fables 100 Patriots, in Peace, assert the Peoples Right; With noble Stubbornness resisting Might.

1757 J. Home Douglas iii. 31 Hard he seems And old in villainy. Permit us try His stubbornness against the torture's force.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iv. §1. 162 The Prince [Llewelyn] held out in Snowdon with the stubbornness of despair.

1878 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Eng. 18th Cent. II. vii. 402 They were endowed with a full share of Scotch stubbornness, jealousy and self-assertion.