Then you'll meet the radiant vision who is all the world to you (You'll attend her mother's lectures later on); So on we marched, but soon again each warrior's heart grew pale, For risin' high in front o' us we saw the County Jail; Oliver Nulty (ed. by Bernadette Lowry): Lead Kindly Light. Celebrating 150 Years of Percy French (Dublin: Oriel Gallery Dublin Gallery, 2002).

It is important to mention a song by French forgotten today called "The Fortunes of Finnegan" because when I was writing my book "Sounds of Manymirth" on French’s influence on James Joyce, I discovered that "The Fortunes of Finnegan" is the second most references of French’s songs in "Finnegans Wake" and is entirely thematic because it is a very amusing song about an indestructible giant - Finnegan who survives a series of mishaps; being bitten by a cat but the cat gets paralyzed not Finnegan, then he was hit by a motor car and the car came out the worst in the incident and the invincible Finnegan presumed dead, was found under the bonnet fixing it. He was also the man who succeeded in politics and who won the hand of ‘beautiful Mary Flynn’ because disregarding the matter of a dowry which made all other suitors cautious, Finnegan was ready to wed her ‘in the clothes she’s standin’ in.’ a b c De Burgh Daly, Mrs (1973). Prose, Poems and Parodies of Percy French. Dublin: Talbot Press. pp.vii–xv. ISBN 978-0-85452-107-4.Tis merely throwin' life away to face that mearin' dhrain, I'm not as bold as lions, but I'm braver nor a hin, And when we'd loaded all our pipes, bould Shlathery up and said, "To-day's immortal fight will be remembered by the dead !

The song is a whimsical look at the styles, attitudes and fashions of late nineteenth-century London as seen from the point of view of an emigrant labourer from a village near the Mourne Mountains. It is written as a message to the narrator's true love at home. The "sweep down to the sea" refrain was inspired by the view of the mountains from Skerries in north County Dublin. [3] It contrasts the artificial attractions of the city with the more natural beauty of his homeland.

Emily de Burg Daly: Chronicles and Poems of Percy French, with an introduction by Katharine Tynan (Dublin: Talbot Press, 1922). In 2008, Celtic Thunder released the song on their eponymous debut album. Their recording is adapted from Don McLean's version of the song and performed by Keith Harkin.

Bernadette Lowry: Sounds of Manymirth on the Night's Ear Ringing. Percy French (1854-1920): His Jarvey Years and Joyce's Haunted Inkbottle; with a foreword by Dr Robert Mohr and an afterword by Martin Mansergh (Dublin: Carmen Eblana Productions, 2021). ISBN 978-1-914488-41-2, 978-1-914488-34-4 In March 2020, a memorial to French was unveiled in Newcastle, County Down, in sight of the Mountains of Mourne, to mark the centenary of his death. [12] Percy French in Joyce's Finnegans Wake: The Jarvey [ edit ]French was born at Clooneyquinn House, [1] near Tulsk, County Roscommon, the son of an Anglo-Irish landlord, Christopher French, and Susan Emma French (née Percy). He was the third of nine children. His younger sister, Emily later Emily de Burg Daly was also a writer. [2] French graduated from TCD first being conferred with a BA degree in 1885 as a civil engineer in 1880 and after a stint as an apprentice engineer on the Midlands Railway with fellow entertainer Charles Mansergh (later Charles Manners of the Moody-Manners Opera Company) French joined the Board of Works in County Cavan as an Inspector of Drains in 1883. While in Trinity French won five out of six watercolour prizes and he became a member of the Dublin Sketching Club in 1876. It is said that he wrote his best songs during his Cavan period. He also painted copiously and established a sketching club and a comic troupe The Kinnepottle Komics in Cavan. During this period, he considered art to be his true vocation. In fact, when he became well-known later in his life, his paintings from his time as a civil engineer became fashionable and sought after. The volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883 while French was in Cavan, and the particles of volcanic ash caused dramatic sunsets all over the world. French painted some of his finest landscapes in this period as he captured the spectacular skies. French exhibited his pictures in the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and sometimes gave them short lyrical poems for titles, such as "Only the sullen seas that flow/ And ebb forever more,/ But tarry awhile sad heart and, lo!/ A light on that lonely shore". Find sources: "Percy French"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( January 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

During World War I, the song Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place used phrases from this song as a basis for some of its verses. Verses in the Gallipoli song include: "At least when I asked them, that's what they told me" and "Where the old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea".Oliver Nulty (d. 2005) established the Oriel Gallery in Clare Street, Dublin in 1868, which opened with a Percy French and George Russell exhibition. Nulty promoted French from the day he opened the gallery in 1968 and mounted at least 15 solo exhibitions of French and several group shows featuring French, one opened by Peter Ustinov. French wrote a number of songs of which the music is lost today. His opera "The Knight of the Road," also so beloved by Joyce, was praised by Healy who re-printed a number of its songs in his book on French’s songs and believes the opera could successfully be performed for a modern audience. Words of some songs from his other children’s opera "Freda and the Fairies" survive but some of the music is tragically lost. ‘Pretendy Land’ has survived and is in French’s archive. The lyrics to the song The Mountains of Mourne (originally spelt The Mountains o' Mourne) were written by Irish musician Percy French (1854–1920). The music was adapted by Houston Collisson (1865–1920) from the traditional Irish folk tune "Carrigdonn" or "Carrigdhoun". [1] [2] The latter had been similarly used by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) for his song Bendemeer's Stream.