22 AUGUST 1952, Page 16

Both Sides of the Street

Snt,—Janus seems to have a curious notion that some kind of rivalry exists between Peterhouse and Pembroke in relation to Thomas Gray. Perhaps a little chronology may serve to dispel such a notion:

1734-38. Gray was at Peterhouse as an undergraduate, but had more than one friend at Pembroke.

1742. Gray returned to Peterhouse as a fellow-commoner.

1756. After the fire-alarm incident Gray moved to Pembroke where he lived until his death in 1771.

His best known poems were, in fact, all written before 1756; but Pembroke is proud to have given him a home for the last fifteen years of his life and to own a collection of his manuscripts and letters.— Your obedient servant, S. C. ROBERTS. The Lodge, Pembroke College, Cambridge.