“I was born a boy and have remained one ever since. Friends and relatives, often urge me to grow up and take an interest in politics, whiskey, race meetings, foreign securities, poor rates, options and other things that men talk about, but no – I am still the small boy messing about with a paintbox, or amusing myself with pencil and paper, while fogies of forty determine the Kaiser’s next move.”
William Percy French.
Songs and Poems
Come Back, Paddy Reilly
The Mountains of Mourne
The Emigrant’s Letter
Phil the Fluter’s Ball
A Fairy Song
People I Don’t Want to Meet
Ach, I Dunno!
McBreen’s Heifer
Ballymilligan
Innismeela
The Road to Ballybay
The End of the Holiday
Rafting Down the Rio
Later On
To E. R.
Things that Matter
Eileen Oge
The Fisherman’s Wife
Not Lost But Gone Before
“ A Reaction ”
George Grossmith
In the Studio
Galloping Hogan
An Irish Mother
The Four Farrellys
To the West
The Kindly Welcome
In Exile
Whistlin’ Phil McHugh
Mrs. Brady
Rafferty’s Racin’ Mare
The Queen’s Advice to Lord Zetland
The Queen’s After-Dinner Speech
Gortnamona
Song of William, Inspector of Drains
The Mary Ann McHugh
Come-All-Ye
Parodies
The Tennis Tournament (after Macaulay)
Fitzwilliam Square
How Hiawatha Won the Cup
A Comic Advertisement
Excelsior
The Nursery Rhymes
Short Plays and Dialogues
The Letter from the Front
Gloom
The Children’s Party
Examination for the post of Editor of Irish Cyclist
The First Lord Lieutenant
My Friend Finnegan
Michael O’Ryan gets the Pension
Larksmead School Breaks Up
Further Songs and Poems
“ Goosey, Goosey, Gander ”
Roley Poley
Mother’s Fairies
The Valley of Dunloe
Lines written in praise of Joan Phyllis French
Lines in a Swiss Hotel
“ If I was a Lady ”
“ If ”
The Musician to his Love
The Killyran Wrackers
Ballinaddy
The Islands of Arran
A Little Girl’s Prayer
Sweet Lavender
Cremorne
“ Tell me, O Captain ”
“ Paradise ”
Celestial Painting
Off to the West Indies
Retrospection
“ The only way out of it ”
The next Landing of the French
Hiawatha’s Motoring
Red-Letter Days
L’Envoi
Smiles
Fighting McGuire
Carmody’s Mare
Shlathery’s Mounted Fut
The Cruise of the Pirate Bus
Sweet Marie
Father O’Callaghan
Mick’s Hotel
“ Are ye right there, Michael? ”
The Darling Girl from Clare
Mathew Hanigan’s Aunt