"Half-way up the stairs it stands"
in his mansion at Cambridge, by so many thought to be the one referred
to in The Old Clock on the Stairs. But no; that one was in the "Gold
House" at Pittsfield, and is now in disuse; while this one is a fine
piece of mechanism, striking the coming hour on each half hour, and on
the hour itself sweet carillons are played for several moments, so
familiar to the poet that it is no wonder that to hear it he says,--
"Better than sleep it is to lie awake."