THE CURSE Lord, confound this surly sister, Blight her brow with blotch and blister, Cramp her larynx, lung, and liver, In her guts a galling give her. Let her live to earn her dinners In Mountjoy with seedy sinners: Lord, this judgment quickly bring, And I'm Your servant, J. M. Synge. -- John Millington SYNGE studied Irish and music and spent a while on the Aran Islands and wrote a book about his experiences. The life and literature of the Irish-speaking people proved a rich source of material for his plays for the Abbey Theatre. "The Curse," was in response to a sister of an enemy of the author's who disapproved of his play, "The Playboy of the Western World." The debut of this great comedy, today considered a classic, sparked a riot outside the Abbey Theatre by protestors who considered its depiction of Irish characters derogatory and offensive. SYNGE (1871-1909) was born in Rathfarnham, Dublin. Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, dates back to 1850. It was designed by Colonel Joshua JEBB, the architect of Pentonville Prison in England. Mountjoy was originally intended as the first stop for men sentenced to transportation where they would spend a period in separate confinement and then be transferred to Spike Island before they would be transported to Van Diemen's land, name originally used by the British for Tasmania, an island state of Australia.