_To be among the gods_ at a theatre is a common phrase applied to those who are seated near the ceiling, which in most theatres is generally painted blue, to represent the sky, and inhabited by rosy-faced Cupids sitting on clouds.
The proverb, _Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones_, dates back to the Union of England and Scotland, at which time London was inundated with Scotchmen. This did not please the Duke of Buckingham, who organised a movement against them, and parties formed, who went about nightly to break their windows. In retaliation, a party of Scotchmen smashed the windows of the Duke’s mansion, which stood in St Martin’s Fields, and had so many windows that it went by the name of the Glass House. The Duke appealed to the king, who replied: ‘Steenie, Steenie, those wha live in glass houses should be carefu’ how they fling stanes.’
_First catch your hare_ is the result of a mistake. It was supposed to be in a cookery-book written by a certain Mrs Glasse, and was evidently caught hold of by some wag, who read it for, ‘First scatch or scradge your hare;’ that is, skin and trim it—an East Anglian word; or else, ‘First scotch your hare before you jug it;’ that is, cut it into small pieces, as the sentence as it is now quoted is nowhere in the book. But the wag was a clever one who gave it the precautionary turn, as the phrase has done good service in warning many to secure their prize before they arrange how to dispose of it.
When people talk of having nothing but ‘common-sense,’ they very often mean that they have good sense only; while the real meaning of the word lies in having the sense common to all five senses, or the point where the five senses meet, supposed to be the seat of the soul, where it judges what is presented to the senses, and decides the mode of action. Another common expression is, _I was scared out of my seven senses_. The origin of this goes very far back. According to ancient teaching, the soul of man or his ‘inward holy body’ was compounded of the seven properties which were under the influence of the seven planets. Fire, animated; earth gave the sense of feeling; water, speech; air, taste; mist gave sight; flowers, hearing; and the south wind, smelling. Hence the seven senses were—animation, feeling, speech, taste, sight, hearing, smelling.