Note 538 — Chapter VI · ‘Nicknames.’
Reading edition
We never use ‘merry’ now in relation to sacred things, though our English Bible does. The fact is, the word has somewhat sunk in the social scale. Few preachers would say, as Bishop Bradford could say quite naturally in his day, ‘The Lord for Christ’s sake give us merry hearts to drink lustily of His sweet cup.’ A monument in Marshfield Church on A. Meredeth ends thus —
‘Judge then, what he did lose who lost but breath,
Lived to die well, and dyed A MEREDETH.
(Rudder’s Gloucestershire.)