Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boutel, Mrs.

by John Joseph Knight

BOUTEL, MRS. (fl. 1663–1696), actress, joined, soon after its formation, the company at the Theatre Royal, subsequently Drury Lane, and was accordingly one of the first women to appear on the stage. Her earliest recorded appearance took place presumably in 1663 or 1664, as Estifania in 'Rule a Wife and Have a Wife.' She remained on the stage until 1696, 'creating,' among other characters, Melantha in ' Marriage a la Mode,' Mrs. Pinchwife in Wycherley's 'Country Wife,' Fidelia in 'The Plain Dealer,' Statira in Lee's 'Rival Queens,' Cleopatra in Dryden's 'All for Love,' and Mrs. Termagant in Shadwell's 'Squire of Alsatia.' Cibber somewhat curiously omits from his 'Apology' all mention of her name. In the 'History of the Stage' which bears the name of Betterton, Mrs. Boutel is described as a 'very considerable actress,' low of stature, with very agreeable features, a good complexion, a childish look, and a voice which, though weak, was very mellow. 'She generally acted,' says the same authority, 'the young innocent lady whom all the heroes are mad in love with,' and was a great favourite with the town. A well-known story concerning her is that, having in the character of Statira obtained from the property-man a veil to which Mrs. Barry, the representative of Roxana, thought herself entitled, much heat of passion was engendered between the two actresses, and Mrs. Barry dealt so forcible a blow with a dagger as to pierce through Mrs. Boutel's stays, and inflict a wound a quarter of an inch in length. Davies, in his 'Dramatic Miscellanies,' vol. ii. p. 404, speaks of Mrs. Boutel as 'celebrated for the gentler parts in tragedy such as Aspatia in the "Maid's Tragedy."' After the union of the companies, 1682, her recorded appearances are few. The last took place in 1696, as Thomyris in 'Cyrus the Great.' She appears to have lived in comfort for some years subsequently.

[Genest's History of the Stage; Downe's Roscius Anglicanus; Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies; Betterton's History of the English Stage (ed. Curll), 1741.]

J. K.

BOUTELL, CHARLES (1812–1877), archaeologist, born at St. Mary Pulham, Norfolk, on 1 Aug. 1812, was the son of the Rev. Charles Boutell, afterwards rector of Litcham and East Lexham. He was B.A. of St. John's, Cambridge, 1834; incorporated at Trinity College, Oxford, and M.A., 1836; took priest's orders, 1839; and was afterwards curate of Hemsby, Norfolk; Sandridge, Hertfordshire; Hampton, Middlesex; and Litcham, Norfolk; rector of Downham Market and vicar of St. Mary Magdalen, Wiggenshall, Norfolk; and rector of Norwood, Surrey. His works on archaeology and mediaeval heraldry are numerous. He was secretary of the St. Albans Architectural Society, and one of the founders, in 1855, of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, of which he was honorary secretary for a few months in 1857, but was dismissed under very painful circumstances (London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Trans. i. 209, 316). His life was one of continuous trouble, and at length, after two years of declining health, he died of a ruptured heart on 11 Aug. 1877. His antiquarian works are:

1. Descriptive and Historical Notices to 'Illustrations of the Early Domestic Architecture of England,' drawn and arranged by John Britton, F.S.A., &c., London, 1846. This book is a small octavo, with a folding plate nine times its size.
2. 'Monumental Brasses and Slabs … of the Middle Ages, with numerous illustrations,' London, 1847, 8vo, pp. 236. Consisting of papers read to the St. Albans Architectural Society, with illustrations.
3. 'Monumental Brasses of England,' descriptive notices illustrative of a series of wood engravings by R. B. Utting, London, 1849, 8vo.
4. 'Christian Monuments in England and Wales from the Era of the Norman Conquest,' with numerous illustrations, London, 1849.
5. 'A Manual of British Archaeology,' illustrated by Orlando Jewitt, London, 1858, 4to, pp. 384.
6. 'A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular,' with 700 illustrations, London, 1863, 8vo. A second edition was called for in two months, and published as:
7. 'Heraldry, Historical and Popular,' with 850 illustrations, London, 1863.
8. The third edition, revised and enlarged, same title, 975 illustrations, London, 1864.
9. 'The Enamelled Heraldic Shield of Wm. de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, 1296, from … Westminster Abbey, drawn by Luke Berrington, with descriptive notice by Charles Boutell, M.A.,' London, 1864, large folio.
10. 'English Heraldry,' illustrated, London, 1867, 8vo. This is a cheaper arrangement of his larger work, for the use of architects, sculptors, painters, and engravers; a fourth edition of it appeared in 1879.
11. 'Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Also a descriptive notice of Modern Weapons. Translated from the