hardnesse

noun

1. (alt-of, countable, obsolete, uncountable)Obsolete spelling of hardness.

   “But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart. For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin, And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within.”

   “And thus doe ſecure ſinners who through hardneſſe of their heart cannot repent,[…]”

   “But pearls and Corrall, and whatsoever else hath a saxatile hardnesse of shell-fish, must give place truly to gemmes for hardnesse; and yet they are not therefore digested in the Athanor of our Oeconomy, so well as in the stomack of some birds. But the stones of Bezoar and of Crabs &c. not so hard as pearls, are not of a saxatile nature: but are rather made of a lacteous semi-caseate & semi-petrified juice, and have a neutrall nature of a tophe, between a Cartilage and a stone.”