At home
he relates that he picked up a wonderful quantity of learning from his
father's books. He read and remembered much poetry from such standard
authors as Milton, Pope, Gay, Gray, Swift, &c., which was destined to
prove in after life an invaluable relaxation for his mind. But he also
studied deeply an excellent Cyclopaedia called a Dictionary of Arts
and Sciences in three volumes folio, and learned from it much about
ship-building, navigation, fortification, and many other subjects.

During this period his valuable friendship with his uncle Arthur
Biddell commenced. Arthur Biddell was a prosperous farmer and valuer
at Playford near Ipswich. He was a well-informed and able man, of
powerful and original mind, extremely kind and good-natured, and
greatly respected throughout the county. In the Autobiography of
George Biddell Airy he states as follows:

"I do not remember precisely when it was that I first visited my uncle
Arthur Biddell. I think it was in a winter: certainly as early as the
winter of 1812--13. Here I found a friend whose society I could enjoy,
and I entirely appreciated and enjoyed the practical, mechanical, and
at the same time speculative and enquiring talents of Arthur
Biddell. He had a library which, for a person in middle life, may be
called excellent, and his historical and antiquarian knowledge was not
small. After spending one winter holiday with him, it easily came to
pass that I spent the next summer holiday with him: and at the next
winter holiday, finding that there was no precise arrangement for my
movements, I secretly wrote him a letter begging him to come with a
gig to fetch me home with him: he complied with my request, giving no
hint to my father or mother of my letter: and from that time,
one-third of every year was regularly spent with him till I went to
College. How great was the influence of this on my character and
education I cannot tell. It was with him that I became acquainted with
the Messrs Ransome, W. Cubitt the civil engineer (afterwards Sir
W. Cubitt), Bernard Barton, Thomas Clarkson (the slave-trade
abolitionist), and other persons whose acquaintance I have valued
highly. It was also with him that I became acquainted with the works
of the best modern poets, Scott, Byron, Campbell, Hogg, and others: as
also with the Waverley Novels and other works of merit."

In 1813 William Airy lost his appointment of Collector of Excise and
was in consequence very much straitened i