JOHN M. SYNGE
A FEW PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
BY JOHN MASEFIELD
JOHN M. SYNGE
I first met John M. Synge at the room of a common friend, up two
pairs of stairs, in an old house in Bloomsbury, on a Monday night
of January, 1903. When I entered the room, he was sitting in a
rush-bottomed chair, talking to a young man just down from Oxford.
My host introduced me, with the remark that he wanted us to know
each other.
Synge stood up to shake hands with me. He was of the middle
height, about five feet eight or nine. My first impression of him
was of a dark, grave face, with a great deal in it, changing from
the liveliness of conversation to a gravity of scrutiny. After we