Note 42 — Chapter XIV

Three excellent sermons referring to marriage, entitled “A Good Wife God’s Gift,” “A Wife Indeed,” and “Marriage Duties,” were published in the “Spiritual Watch” in 1622, by the eminent theologian, Thomas Gataker, B.D. He was the author of many learned works, and his annotations on “Marcus Antoninus” are well known to scholars. Thomas Gataker was born in 1574, of a very old and ancient family, still retaining their ancestral heritage of Gatacre, in Shropshire. The former Hall of Gatacre was built of stone, three sides of the exterior of the mansion being entirely covered with a glaze of greenish glass. It has puzzled many to account for the method by which the walls received their vitreous coating, effectually preserving the stone from the action of the weather. The foundation of a building on the estate, where the glass is supposed to have been made, still retains the name of the “Glass House.” We have in our possession some of the stone, with its covering of glass, given to us by one of the family. The roof of the mansion is said to have been supported by an enormous oak tree, turned upside down. This interesting relic of former ages was pulled down during the last century, and replaced by the present large and spacious brick-built Hall of the Gatacres of Gatacre.