In a merry pin

A carved oak peg tankard said to have come from Glastonbury Abbey held two quarts and was once fitted inside with eight pegs, marking off half a pint each. The story was that King Edgar, to curb the heavy drinking brought in by the Danes, had pegs set in drinking cups and punished anyone who drank past his mark. Hone traced to these cups the saying that someone cheerful with drink was in a merry pin, a phrase Cowper used of John Gilpin.