Definition of "cheerfulness"

Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giueth, let him doe it with simplicitie: hee that ruleth, with diligence: hee that sheweth mercy, with cheerefulnesse.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Romans 12:8

The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns - a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms - days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 16