It is not to be wondered at that, as the processes were perfected, the reputation of Delft increased, and its commerce grew in proportion, and that no symptoms of decay manifest themselves until toward the end of the seventeenth century. The genius of both potters and painters ran riot among curious forms and decorations. One author mentions dinner services with dish covers resembling in form and color the birds to be served in them; a spice cupboard resembling a Chinese Mandarin, and other curiosities. Another strange form was that of a violin, one of which is painted in blue camaïeu, with figures engaged in a dance, and musicians. STONE-WARE. Countess Jacqueline.--Teylingen.--Graybeards.--Fine Stone-ware.--Grès de Flandre.--Creussen. This ware, distinguished, as we have seen, by its vitrified fracture, although long known in the East, does not appear in Europe until between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. When it was first made in France has not been ascertained with sufficient exactness, and to Germany the credit of instituting the fabrication has generally been accorded. We find it throughout the provinces on the Rhine at a very early period, and it probably passed down the Rhine to Holland and thence to England. The name of the beautiful and unfortunate Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of Hainault and Holland, is connected with the making of stone-ware by a very curious tradition. Jacqueline was the daughter of William IV., Count of Hainault and Holland, at whose request she married John, Duke of Brabant. This was the beginning of her troubles. A jealous and disappointed suitor, John of Bavaria, Bishop of Liege, marched against Holland, and having compelled the countess to nominate him as her successor, bribed her husband to transfer to him the management of her estates for a term of years. The countess, having good reason to be disgusted with men in general, and with her husband and quondam suitor in particular, fled to England after appealing in vain to Rome for a divorce. In England her beauty captivated the Duke of Gloucester, who espoused her cause as a preliminary to espousing herself. The duke marched against her husband of Brabant, who, assisted by his cousin of Burgundy, defeated the invader. Gloucester deserted Jacqueline, fled to England, and took a less involved bride. The countess in the mean time was imprisoned; but she escaped, and on the death, in 1425, of the prelate of Liege, resumed her rightful position. Then she was relieved by death of her husband, and was again involved in war by the Duke of Burgundy, whom she was forced to declare her heir. A second marriage into which she entered so enraged Philip--who, by-the-way, is known in history as, _par excellence_, “The Good”--that he arrested her husband, and would have executed him, had not Jacqueline handed over her coveted property to “The Good,” and in 1433 retired to the privacy of the Castle of Teylingen.