Careful Words

dole (n.)

dole (v.)

With an auspicious and a dropping eye,

With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,

In equal scale weighing delight and dole.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.

Happy man be his dole!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Happy man, happy dole.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.