1 page letter, on 4 page folio letter sheet, from Thomas Pyle (1674-1709) to the secretary of The Reverend John Moore, Bishop of Ely (1646-1714) at the Palace, dated Oct. 28, 1709. Referring to “the Living of Outwell in the Queen’s books” and forwarding a document for the Bishop to rectify and apply a stamp, amid a myriad of other details.
The Reverend Pyle graduated from Cambridge in 1696, ordained a Deacon by Said Bishop Moore and became Rector of Outwell, 1709. A strong Whig, Pyle preached in London and his Paraphrase of the Acts and Epistles, in the manner of Dr. Clarke (1725) gained support of dissenters, and Pyle made no secret of his views on the Trinity, in which he adopted an Arian position, reveling in what he called “the glorious prerogative of private judgment, the birth-right of Protestants”. He published a number of other works through the mid 18th Century. Bishop John Moore was known as a major book collector, amassing a library of 30,000 items, which may have been the largest in England. To celebrate his coronation, King George I caused it to be purchased intact and donated to Cambridge University, which at that time contained nearly twice the material in the existing University library. It is still largely intact and called the Royal Library, in honor of its patron.