| BOX 4 - LETTERS | |||
| Ref No. | Category | Title | Description |
| F04/01 | Pictogram Letter | French to Ettie | Dublin, January 1902. Original and one copy. |
| F04/02 | Letter | French to Ettie | "I had to draw a pig with my eyes shut in a lady's book, it looked like a seagull fighting with a lobster for a three legged stool." For drawing of pig see F04/02A below and x10/84. |
| F04/02A | Drawing | Pig | Drawing of Pig, with poem. |
| F04/03 | Letter | French to Ettie | "Chere Etts" "Je suis si busy phasant l'argent pour ma familleÉ" |
| F04/04 | Letter | French to Ettie | United Arts Club, Dublin, 3rd November 1912. "It is now eighteen years since you 'came as a boon and a blessing' to us allÉI enclose something to buy a memento of the dayÉthis is all that can be found in the wallet of Old Stoney Broke the strolling singer..." |
| F04/05 | Letter | French to Ettie | "Ésuffice it to say that if I had shown the least aptitude for learning I would now be an apoplectic alderman full of honours and gout and not the brown skinned hobo who has to keep on the eternal hustle to keep his clamorous brood in buns and bathing suits." |
| F04/06 | Letter | French to Ettie | Dublin. Account of a film in one of his shows. "Sometimes a man would remember the redskins and push a rifle through a posthole but before he had time to fire Prairie Belle (the heroine) would snatch it from him and fire it point blank at the orchestra. This was as it should be, as they always played the most inappropriate tunes." |
| F04/07 | Pictogram Letter | French to Mollie | Dublin, January 1902. |
| F04/08 | Letter/Sketch | French to Mollie | Pen sketch of rhinocerus on top deck of a bus. |
| F04/09 | Poem Letter | French to Mollie | Magheramorne. "My ever dear Mollie/You seem to be jolly/And having a very good time/Today can't be wetter/So I write you a letter/Which I hope you'll observe is in rhymeÉ" |
| F04/10 | Poem Letter | French to Mollie | 1901, with mourning band round the notepaper. "My dear little Mollie/I hope you are jolly/and not melancholy/for that would be follyÉ" Original and one copy. |
| F04/11 | Letter | French to Mollie | "Tell thy lady mother that I did this day forward to her bank by trusty hands the sum of £14 English currency of which she may make ducks and drakes as she so pleases as there is still £10 in my wallet." |
| F04/12 | Letter | French to Mollie | "I will soon be envelloper dans les flottes avec votre chere soeur et votre chere maman." |
| F04/13 | Letter | French to Mollie | "It is hereditary in my family not to pass exams, so I look to you to keep up the old family tradition." |
| F04/14 | Letter | French to Mollie | Portrush. "The latest result of the European war is that I have had my hair cut. Two policemen called at my hotel yesterday wanting to know if I was an alien. I told them in my best brogue 'I was nat' and the manager backed up my assertion so I am still at large. Love to all, Daddy." |
| F04/15 | Letter | French to Mollie | Dublin. "Many happy returns of 'Der Tag'..your accompaniment to Mr Dooley will vibrate the cobwebs in the Abbey Theatre tomorrow night. It goes wellÉ" |
| F04/16 | Postcard | ? To Joan | Programme in Joan's (?) handwriting, "Solo Daddy". |
| F04/17 | Letter | French to Joan | "A hen flew in to the hall last night during my performance - I said I hope no one will suffer from the en flew in sir (roars of laughter)." |
| F04/18 | Letter/sketch | French to Joan | Account of a school play, with sketch. |
| F04/18A | Letter/sketch | French to Joan | Second page of above. |
| F04/19 | Poem Letter | French to Joan | April 1912. "Ode to Joan. The sun may shine/from ten to nine/Along the brine-y way/The swine may dine/On turpentine/And with good wine be gayÉ/For Joan is Nine To-day!" |
| F04/20 | Letter | French to Joan | April 1914. "Lines written in praise of Joan Phyllis French, a young lady who by constantly disregarding my advice and eating more than was good for her has attained her eleventh year." |
| F04/21 | Letter | French to Ettie and Mollie | London. "I am sending Pollie Anna and Cockears all the way from London to Mespil Road." |
| F04/22 | Pictogram Letter | French to ? | A pictogram letter to one of the girls, headed with a sketch of a fried A (Friday). |
| F04/23 | Poem Letter | French to Ettie and Mollie | "Chanson Francais par le vieux Dadda a Mademoiselles Edttie et Mollie. Mes petites choux/J'espere que vous/Et(es) beaucoup heureuxÉ." |
| F04/24 | Letter | French to children | Dunoon. "Weel ma bonnie weans here I am on the banks o' the Clyde, watching the wee raindrops runnin' doon the winda' panesÉ." |
| F04/25 | Letter | French to children | "Dear Kidlets, I bid goodbye to bonnie Doon - goad him for a song - and sailed from Greenock to Derry passing on our way the celebrated (see guide book) also the world renowned (ditto ditto)." |
| F04/26 | Letter | French to Lennie | On Irish Cyclist notepaper. "Dearest little girl. A hurried scribble to accompany 'the cycle'ÉDon't forget end of Jan 94. Your loving Willie." |
| F04/27 | Lettercard | French to Lennie | "Good so far, Bundoran £15..Strabane very pleasedÉalso told me to try Limavady, a good townÉSend further instructions how to reach St Cast." |
| F04/28 | Letter | French to Lennie | "I am giving a matinee on the 23rd at PortrushÉ" |
| F04/29 | part Letter | French to Lennie | Final page only. "ÉI made the usual £8.8s. at Rosapenna and met the usual number of old friends whom I don't know from Adam." |
| F04/30 | Letter | French to Lennie | Tintagel, on tour with Collisson for Royal Surgical Aid Society. "Dear Mummy, we are having a triumphal progress making money for the RSAS. The hotel at Weston has a lounge Cupid from the Alhambra so we tried to look like moors, moor or less." |
| F04/31 | Letter | French to Lennie | Royal Hotel, Bath. "ÉWhat about coal shortage? There are a lot of old frames and remains of artists canvasses in studio which I meant to give to cook to burn." |
| F04/32 | Letter | French to Lennie | "I got £10..a royalty for 'Am Tag' as old Pigott thinks the war will be over before he can get it out so would not give moreÉ" |
| F04/33 | Letter and sketch | French to Lennie | Ballybunion. "We drove from Tarbet on Saturday and the horse broke down about 2 miles from Ballybunion. We transferred our luggage to a turf cart and arrived ingloriously at the Central Hotel." |
| F04/34 | Letter | French to Lennie | Newquay. "We are to have Kipling in our audience tonight." |
| F04/35 | Letter | French to Lennie | Belfast."Émy Ballybay host turned out to be a big horse buyer. He was in Tralee the Monday of the rebellion and saw 5000 men armed and ready to rise but as the wires were cut they could get no instructionsÉthey manage things well over here." |
| F04/36 | Letter | French to Lennie | YMCA notepaper. "On Active Service. With the British Expeditionary Force... I hear houses are being let in London for £50 for the Peace week! What abawt it? " |
| F04/37 | Postcard | French to Lennie | France, YMCA postcard, On Active Service. "A merry night at mess on Saturday where the boys gave us an illustration of a night in the trenches." |
| F04/38 | Letter | French to Mecredy | 1902? From 21 Clifton Hill. "ÉI have written a play which the experts say is good and new and Edward Terry has promised to read 'anything Percy French writes' so it goes to him this month and as there is a fine part for Terry we think it will be a deal." |
| F04/39 | Letter | French to Irwin | "É the measles (may the pigs dance on their ashes) are even now in the nursery of the mis-shapen microbe who signs himself WPF." |
| F04/39A | Letter | French to Irwin | Typed transcript of above. |
| F04/40 | Photocopy Letter | French to Mrs O'Lochlainn | "The war has knocked my work over here on the head." |
| F04/41 | Letter | RG Tyrell to French | Greystones. "Delighted with your book." |
| F04/42 | Part Letter | Unknown hand | One page of a letter refering to The Grand Irish Opera in Mr and Mrs Scally's Bar. |
| F04/43 | Letter | JW to French | "If I were a millionaire I should syndicate you as a peripatetic health resort." |
| F04/44 | Letter | JA Roberton to Lennie | Twickenham 1912. "I hope to be able to recover some of the lost money for the syndicate." |
| F04/45 | Letter | Collisson to Lennie | Grindelwald, December 1913. "If it can be arranged they want us both to go together to Ceylon, India, and perhaps Burmah, Shanghai, Java, Hong Kong starting on Boxing Day 1913 from London." |
| F04/46 | Letter and Sketch | Unknown hand to French | Letter, and sketch of General Napier statue. |
| F04/47 | Letter | A Irwin to Lennie | Dublin. "We were very glad to have Willie here last night, though he left his luggage at the Club and brought Jim Duncan's hat instead of it." |
| F04/48 | Letter | Kathleen Hogg to French | Belfast. A thank-you for French's poems sustaining her through the war effort. |
| F04/49 | Letter | Ettie to Lennis | Dublin. "Daddy hurt his leg last Thursday falling from a train. He wouldn't look after it properly, and now Dr Cahill says it is septic and he must stay in bed for a weekÉThe accident happened at Blackrock, É.hurt his finger as well in the accident, so he couldn't play his banjo at the Avoca show." |
| F04/50 | Part Letter | Mrs Irwin to Lennie? | A fragment of a letter, probably from Mrs Irwin to Lennie. |
| F04/51 | Poem/Letter | AD Godley to Fench | Oxford, post 1913. A letter in verse. "I with my gold will gladly part to serve the sacred cause of Art: nor debt unpaid nor lack of pelf forbids the Bar to please himself." |
| F04/52 | Letter | Timothy Clery to French | Malahide. A letter re bill-posting. |
| F04/53 | Group Letter | Patients of Ward RP10 to French | November 1917. "Just a few lines to show our appreciation and thanks for your great kindness in coming to entertain us last Thursday." Signed by 33 soldiers. |
| F04/54 | Letter | M Moran to C French | Philadelphia. "Éyou made all your tenants happy, the one that had a bad house you repaired it for him, the family that was hungry you fed them, you clothed the naked. I had an interview with mens sons that left your property 28 or 30 years ago, they said you were a father to your tenants at that time when other landlords were tyrantsÉ" |
| F04/55 | Letter | Henry Hansell to French | Sandringham, December 1907. "I hope you arrived home all right without being soaked by that terrible storm! The Princess of Wales asked me to thank you very much for the plate and for leaving the book of watercolours. The Prince of Wales telephoned to me to-day and said that he was delighted to hear that the entertainment had been such a success and asked me to let you know how sorry he was to have missed it. With kindest regards and best wishes." |
| F04/56 | Letter | Lord Wolseley to French | Hampton Court Palace, December 1915. "I hear the entertainment last night was a great success, that the men were immensely amused and spontaneously gave you their cheers, which they had never done before. I am very glad, for their sakes and yours, as I am sure it must be difficult in these times to keep your spirits up to concert pitch, but you will have felt what pleasure you were giving. I enclose the cheque for last night with many thanks." |
| F04/57 | Letter | Alice Irwin to Children | Dublin, November 1920. To "Dearest KidsÉIt was well that Alfred had gone temporarily to the Castle, as, in the officer-hunt yesterday, six Shinners with revolvers called for him at 49ÉEveryone was in the dining room at breakfast, so if Alfred had been at home, he would have been shot in front of Brian and all the family." |
| F04/58 | Letter | Collisson to French | Wengen, 6th January 1920. On hotel notepaper, with period picture of hotel. "How we wish you were with us! Every night, nem con, the audience sends you a message hoping you may soon be well again." |
| F04/59 | Part Letter | Alice Irwin to ? | Fragment of letter. "After his supper instead of going to bed he sat down and gave us song after songÉ" |
| F04/60 | Letter | CJ French to Annie | A chatty letter. "Ettie and Molly French were over, so I saw a good deal of them and liked both very much." |
| F04/60A | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Page two of above. |
| F04/60B | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Page three of above. |
| F04/61 | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Another chatty letter. |
| F04/61A | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Page two of above. |
| F04/61B | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Page three of above. |
| F04/61C | Letter | CJ French to Annie | Page four of above. "...poor Willie looks about 100. He had a sort of breakdown last year, fortunately it was while he was at the Dalys so Charlie prescribed for him and Emily looked after him. He is in France at present with Dr Collisson, entertaining soldiers." |
| F04/62 | Letter | CJ French to Annie | First page of a letter. |
| F04/63 | Letter | CJ French to Annie | A page from a letter. |
| F04/64 | Postcard | French to Miss Sheldon | French to Lennie, before they were married. |
| F04/65 | Letters | French to Miss Sheldon | Letters collated by AT, 1-62, French to Lennie before they were married, and a set of transcribed and edited photocopies of the letters. |
| x04/66 | Letter | French to Miss Butler | Letter donated by Courtney Kenny, September 2008 |