1893 text

Frances Butler, the great beauty, who is sometimes styled. la belle Boteler.


This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

9 Annotations

First Reading

Mary  •  Link

According to L&M, Mrs. Butler was sister to A. Butler, aka Monsieur L'Impertinent and also cousin to Sam's friend Will Bowyer. The 'Mrs.' (i.e. Mistress) is a courtesy title.

vincent  •  Link

Why the appendage? was it, that she was pretty and one of the lesser Butler's with an hour glass figure [ mod. fr? Bouteille]

Pauline  •  Link

la belle Boteler
Why the appendage?
Sounds like a foreign-accented pronunciation of Butler. Perhaps just playfully spinning the glee in her beauty on the tongue. Or picked up from someone with an accent saying her name? I wonder how much of a French accent Elizabeth had?

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

actually it be Francophile way of saying a beautiful Butler [ derived from Bouteiller meaning cupbearer leading to Bottle, by a name, which was given to those keep the good stuff below, in the pantry], Butler he the only one that had a key to vino.

Aqua  •  Link

Samuell, Verfies relatonship to his good friend Bowyer Mr. W. Bowyer, [http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… ] "...and there drank my morning draft, and had some of his simple discourse. Among other things he tells me how the difference comes between his fair cozen Butler and Collonell Dillon, upon his opening letters of her brother’s from Ireland,..."

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Frances Stewart, who was enchanting Chas II at Court at the time, was called "La Belle Stuart". James Butler, Duke of Ormonde's family name was also spelled le Boteler and le Botiller. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of Butler of Ireland. So Frances Butler's pet name is a play on words (remembering that spelling and consistency were not 17th century necessities ... how they knew who was who is beyond me).

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

More museums and country houses are putting their collections on line every day, Kyle. So if I say "no" now, it might stop someone a year from now from Googling the question and discovering a new gem of information to share here. Google away, Kyle. Share what you discover ... this is a blog. Most of the annotators are just arm-chair historians helping each other sort out an enormous puzzle.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

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1668