masters in art were the writers of the French Decadent school of
the eighteen nineties, Verlaine, Mallarme, J. K. Huysmans, etc.
Synge had read these writers (who has not?) I often talked of them
with him. So far as I know, they were the only writers for whom he
expressed dislike. As a craftsman he respected their skill, as an
artist he disliked their vision. The dislike he plainly stated in
a review of Huysmans' _La Cathedrale_ (_ The Speaker_, April,
1903) and in an allusion to the same author's, _A Rebours_, in one
of his Prefaces. I do not know who his masters in art may have
been, that is one of the personal things he would not willingly
have told; but from what I can remember, I should say that his
favourite author, during the greater part of his life, was Racine.




PORTRAITS


Several portraits of Synge exist. Besides a few drawings of him
which are still in private hands, there are these, which have been
made public.

An oil painting by Mr. J. B. Yeats. R.H.A. (Municipal Gallery,
Dublin.)

A Drawing by Mr. J. B. Yeats. R.H.A. (_Samhain_. December, 1904.)

A Drawing by Mr. J. B. Yeats. R.H.A. (Frontispiece to _Playboy_.)