His view was that no such organisation was founded upon a right principle which did not require every man, by personal exertion, and by his own choice, to work out his own happiness. Benevolence he held to be not really such unless it stimulated providence, self-denial, and perseverance. He used special words of warning against those so frequent lotteries of uncertain and precarious advantages--"really a species of gambling"--expensive convivial meetings, balloting for prizes, and electioneering contests on a small scale. "Let them always bear in mind," he proceeded to say, "that their savings are capital, that capital will only return a certain interest, and that any advantage offered beyond that interest has to be purchased at a commensurate risk of the capital itself." Such is a view, but all too summary and inadequate, of some of the obligations which the English, as his fellow-citizens, owed to that Prince whose life was so intertwined with and influential on that of their Sovereign. CHAPTER XVII. FOREIGN TRAVEL AND HOME VISITS. Visit to King Louis Philippe at Eu--A Loyal Corporation--Splendid Reception of the Queen in France--Anecdote of the Queen's Regard for Prince Albert--Visit of the Czar Nicholas--Home Life in Scotland--Visit to Germany--Illuminations of the Rhine--A Rural Fete at Coburg. In August, 1843, the Queen and Prince Albert made a yachting excursion round portions of the south coast and the Isle of Wight. Thence they steamed over to Treport, on the French coast, the nearest port to the Chateau d'Eu, a rural residence of Louis Philippe. On the arrival of the Queen and Prince from Windsor at Southampton, they were met at the end of the pier by the Duke of Wellington and other noble and official personages. It rained heavily, and as there was not sufficient covering for the stage intended to run on to the yacht _Victoria and Albert_, the members of the Corporation, like so many Raleighs, stripped off their red gowns in a moment, and the pathway was covered for Her Majesty's use, so that Queen Victoria, like Queen Elizabeth, walked dry-footed to her vessel. The undergraduates at Cambridge acted precisely similarly on the occasion of a visit in wet weather by the Queen and Prince to that university in this year. [Sidenote: VISIT TO FRANCE.]