She accordingly lent _Madame la Duchesse_ her most devoted adherents, the same whom she was presently to employ on behalf of Louis XV.; and the Courts of Europe were ransacked to find a suitable partner for the chief of the Condés. The search proved to be a difficult one, for Madame de Prie’s requirements naturally caused not a few otherwise eligible young ladies to be passed over by her agents; but, at length, her old admirer Lozilières, formerly secretary to the Embassy at Turin, who journeyed under the name of the Chevalier de Méré and in the character of a wandering artist, reported the discovery of one whom he thought might answer her purpose. The princess in question was Marie Leczinska, daughter of Stanislaus Leczinski, the dethroned and fugitive King of Poland, who was now vegetating sadly at Weissembourg, in Alsace. She was described as pleasing in appearance, though without any pretensions to beauty, very amiable, very kind-hearted, and entirely devoid of ambition; in short, exactly the kind of young woman to make _Monsieur le Duc_ a good wife, without threatening any danger to his mistress. The favourite’s suggestion of an alliance between the Duc de Bourbon and the Polish princess was well received by _Madame la Duchesse_, for, though the young lady’s father was at present in exile, it was far from improbable that a turn of fortune might one day restore him to his throne; _Monsieur le Duc_ offered no opposition; Stanislaus gave thanks to Heaven that his daughter’s hand was sought by so powerful a prince; Marie had no other wish than that of her father; and the affair was almost concluded, when events occurred which decided the Government that the marriage of the King to a princess capable of bearing him children was a question which admitted of no delay. On 30 August, 1724, the young King of Spain died, and Philip V. resumed the crown which he had resigned a few months before. Early in 1725, a despatch from Philip to his Ambassador at the Court of Versailles was intercepted by the agents of _Monsieur le Duc_, which showed that it was his intention to demand “the public declaration of the nuptial arrangements” between Louis XV. and the Infanta. And, almost immediately after this discovery, the young King fell so ill that for several days he was believed to be in serious danger.