The immense patronage which _Monsieur le Duc_ exercised in both his private and official capacities was almost entirely directed by her, and, though she was, of course, guided chiefly by party considerations, some of her selections showed sound judgment. Thus, her choice of the Duc de Richelieu, in 1725, for the Embassy at Vienna, though ridiculed at the time, was really a very happy one; and this is admitted even by historians so little favourable to Madame de Prie as Lemontey.[267] Without allowing herself to be discouraged by the failure of the Villeroy affair, the marchioness promptly proceeded to make another and more important move. The surest way to gain the good graces of the young King was to exploit his passion for the chase. Well, no one was better able to procure him this diversion than _Monsieur le Duc_. His forests of Chantilly and Halatte abounded in big game, already beginning to fail in those in the vicinity of Versailles, owing to their being too constantly hunted. The hunting establishment of the prince, moreover, enjoyed an almost European reputation, while he himself was a famous man when hounds were running. At the suggestion of his mistress, _Monsieur le Duc_ proposed to the King that he should honour him by hunting his forests and spend the months of July and August at Chantilly, by which means not only would they have every opportunity of gaining the young monarch’s favour by gratifying his taste for sport and amusement, but he would be removed for a time from the influence of Fleury, and also from that of the Orléans’ faction, which was continually bombarding him with petitions on behalf of Le Blanc and complaints as to the alleged ill-treatment to which the ex-Minister and his fellow-prisoners were being subjected in the Bastille. Louis XV. received the proposal with delight, and on the last day of June he set out for Chantilly, accompanied by a splendid _entourage_, from which _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie had taken care that every one avowedly hostile to their cause should be excluded, although they had decided to admit several of the more moderate partisans of the Orléans, whom they hoped to win over. The weather was magnificent, and Chantilly had never looked more beautiful. The King “indulged every day in the amusement of the chase, either of the stag or the boar, and appeared very satisfied with the cares which _Monsieur le Duc_ took without ceasing to render his stay at this superb château agreeable.” His Majesty dined daily with the princes and nobles whom he did the honour to select, and in the evening supped with _Madame la Duchesse_, Mlle. de Clermont, and a few ladies and nobles, whom he named in rotation, his table being served with extreme magnificence. After supper, the company adjourned to a gallery adjoining the King’s apartments, where high play went on until a late hour, to the accompaniment of _Monsieur le Duc’s_ private band.