He then lived at Bury St Edmunds.  Mrs Clarkson was a lady of Bury.  But I cannot assign conjecturally any dates to his removals or his marriage.  His only son took his B.A. degree, I think, about 1817.

I think it was in 1814 that he began his occupation of Playford Hall—­a moated mansion near Ipswich, formerly of great importance —­where he lived as Gentleman Farmer, managing a farm leased from the Marquis of Bristol, and occupying a good position among the gentry of the county.  A relative of mine, with whom I was most intimately acquainted, lived in the same parish (where in defiance of school rules I spent nearly half my time, to my great advantage as I believe, and where I still retain a cottage for occasional residence), and I enjoyed much of Mr Clarkson’s notice.  It was by his strong advice that I was sent to Cambridge, and that Trinity College was selected:  he rode with me to Rev. Mr Rogers of Sproughton for introductory examination; he introduced me to Rev. C. Musgrave (subsequently of Halifax), accidentally doing duty at Grundisburgh, who then introduced me to Sedgwick, Peacock, and T. Musgrave (subsequently of York).  In 1825, when I spent the summer at Keswick, he introduced me to Southey and Wordsworth.

Mr Clarkson lived about thirty years at Playford Hall, and died there, and lies interred with his wife, son, and grandson, in Playford churchyard.  I joined several friends in erecting a granite obelisk to his memory in the same churchyard.  His family is extinct:  but a daughter of his brother is living, first married to T. Clarkson’s son, and now Mrs Dickinson, of the Rectory, Wolferton.

I am, my dear Sir,
Very faithfully yours,
G.B.  AIRY.

The Very Reverend,
  The Dean of Ely.

1880

“The Admiralty, on final consideration of the estimates, decided not to proceed with the erection of a new Library near the Magnetic Observatory in the present year.  In the mean time the space has been cleared for the erection of a building 50 by 20 feet.—­I have removed the Electrometer Mast (a source of some expense and some danger), the perfect success of Sir William Thomson’s Electrometer rendering all further apparatus for the same purpose unnecessary.—­Many years ago a double-image micrometer, in which the images were formed by the double refraction of a sphere of quartz, was prepared by Mr Dollond for Capt.  Smyth, R.N.  Adopting the same principle on a larger scale, I have had constructed by Mr Hilger a micrometer with double refraction of a sphere of Iceland spar.  Marks have been prepared for examination of the scale, but I have not yet had opportunity of trying it.—­The spectroscopic determination of Star-motions has been steadily pursued.  The stars are taken from a working list of 150 stars, which may eventually be extended to include all stars down to the fourth magnitude, and it is expected that in the course of time the motions of about 300 stars