----"You'd not doe
Like your penurious father, who was wont
To walk his dinner out in Paules."
--Mayne's City Match, 1658.
The time of supper was about five o'clock.
Paul's cross stood in the churchyard of that cathedral, on the north side, towards the east end. It was used for the preaching of sermons to the populace; and Holinshed mentions two instances of public penance being performed here; in 1534 by some of the adherents of Elizabeth Barton, well known as the holy maid of Kent, and in 1536 by Sir Thomas Newman, a priest, who "bare a faggot at Paules crosse for singing masse with good ale."
Dole originally signified the portion of alms that was given away at the door of a nobleman. Steevens, note to Shakspeare. Sir John Hawkins affirms that the benefaction distributed at Lambeth Palace gate, is to this day called the dole.
That is, the contents of his basket, if discovered to be of light weight, are distributed to the needy prisoners.