Definition of "quietude"

But the castle was not destined to remain long in its present quietude. One morning Lord Avonleigh received a packet from London, whose contents filled him with joy...

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 169

Stopping steam services on the West Coast line from Brighton are confined to the Horsham push-pull trains, which diverge at Shoreham to seek the rural quietude of Bramber, Steyning, Henfield, and Partridge Green, with a run by the banks of the Adur as a pleasant prelude.

1947 November and December, B. K. Cooper, “Steam Working in the Brighton District”, in Railway Magazine, page 381