Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Excellence

Excellence , noun

[French excellence, Latin excellentia.]

1.
The quality of being excellent; state of possessing good qualities in an eminent degree; exalted merit; superiority in virtue.
Consider first that great Or bright infers not excellence. — Milton
2.
An excellent or valuable quality; that by which any one excels or is eminent; a virtue.
With every excellence refined. — Beattie
3.
A title of honor or respect; -- more common in the form excellency.
I do greet your excellence With letters of commission from the king. — Shakespeare