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DOLE (from Old Eng. dal, cf. mod. " d...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 387 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

DOLE (from Old Eng. dal, cf. mod. " See also:deal ")  , a portion, a See also:distribution of gifts, especially of See also:food and See also:money given in charity . The derivation from O . Fr. doel, See also:Late See also:Lat. dolium, " grief," suggested by the See also:custom of funeral doles, is wrong . In See also:early See also:Christian days, St See also:Chrysostom says: " doles were used at funerals to procure the See also:rest of the soul of the deceased; that he might find his See also:judge propitious." The distribution of See also:alms to the See also:local poor at funerals was a universal custom in the See also:middle ages . The amount of doles was usually stated in the will . Thus in 1399 Eleanor, duchess of See also:Gloucester, ordered that fifteen poor men should carry torches at her funeral, " each having a See also:gown and See also:hood lined with See also:white, breeches of See also:blue See also:cloth, shoes and a See also:shirt, and twenty pounds amongst them." Later doles usually took the See also:form of bequests of See also:land or money, the See also:interest or See also:rent of which was to be annually employed in charity . Often the distribution took See also:place at the See also:grave of the donor . Thus one See also:William See also:Robinson of See also:Hull at his See also:death in 1708 See also:left money to buy annually a dozen loaves, costing a See also:shilling each, to be given to twelve poor widows at his grave every See also:Christmas . Lenten doles were also formerly See also:common . A will of 1537 bade a See also:barrel of white See also:herrings and a See also:case of red herrings be given yearly to the poor of Clavering, See also:Essex, to. help them See also:tide over the fast . One or two See also:London doles are still distributed, e.g. that of St See also:Peter's, See also:Walworth, where a Christmas See also:dinner is each See also:year served to 300 See also:parish poor in the See also:crypt . No one under sixty is eligible, and the dinner is unique in that it is cooked in the See also:church .

A See also:

pilgrim's See also:dole of See also:bread and See also:ale can be claimed by all wayfarers at the See also:Hospital of St See also:Cross, See also:Winchester . This is said to have been founded by William of Wykeham . See also:Emerson, when visiting Winchester, claimed and received the dole . What were known as Scrambling Doles, so called because the See also:meat and bread distributed were thrown among the poor to be scrambled for, were not uncommon in See also:England . Such a dole existed at St Briavel's, See also:Gloucestershire, baskets of bread and See also:cheese cut into small squares being thrown by the churchwardens from the See also:gallery into the See also:body of the church on Whit See also:Sunday . At Wath near See also:Ripon a testator in 1810 ordered that See also:forty See also:penny loaves should be thrown from the church leads at midnight on every Christmas See also:eve . The best known dole in the See also:United States is the " See also:Leake Dole of Bread . See also:John Leake, a millionaire dying in 1792, left £1000 to Trinity Church, New See also:York, the income to be laid out in wheaten loaves and distributed every See also:Sabbath See also:morning after service . The dole still survives, though the See also:day has been altered to Saturday, each See also:week sixty-seven loaves being given away .

End of Article: DOLE (from Old Eng. dal, cf. mod. " deal ")
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