2 AUGUST 1997, Page 24

No infant prodigy

Sir: Andrew Roberts (Diary, 26 July) says that the Master of Caius College, Cam- bridge, discovered 'the long-lost mid-18th- century plans Sir John Soane drew up for an impossibly grand hall at Caius'. Soane was born in 1753, which makes this date impossible. If the plans are by Soane, they are most likely to date from around 1792, when he was working on the restoration of the hall at Caius. If Andrew Roberts has seen much of Soane's work it is surprising that he could suppose that any of it dates from the middle of the 18th century.

Patrick Taylor

Beaumont House, New Street, Wells, Somerset