[-NESS.] Subtlety.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxxviii. (Bodl. MS.). He [sc. the stomach] is senewy to resceyue and haue þe sotilnes of feling and vertu and strengþe of appetitee.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 8297. Yf she had wist of this sotelnes She wold not haue goote the ring I-wis.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxix. 17. Thair hairtis ar sett wt sittelness.
1836. Smart, Subtleness, Subtlety, artfulness, cunning.
1870. Daily News, 7 Oct., 4/6. Its [Disraeli’s novels] occasional subtlenesses of thought.
1909. H. M. Gwatkin, Early Ch. Hist., xix. II. 178. The subtleness of sin.
