Abraham Gallatin, his grandfather, lived at Pregny on the northern shore of the lake, in close neighborhood to Ferney, the retreat of Voltaire. Susanne Vaudenet Gallatin, his grandmother, was a woman of the world, a lady of strong character, and the period was one when the influence of women was paramount in the affairs of men; among her friends she counted Voltaire, with whom her husband and herself were on intimate relations, and Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, with whom she corresponded. So sincere was this latter attachment that the sovereign sent his portrait to her in 1776, an honor which, at her instance, Voltaire acknowledged in a verse characteristic of himself and of the time:-- "J'ai baise ce portrait charmant, Je vous l'avourai sans mystere, Mes filles en out fait autant, Mais c'est un secret qu'il faut taire. Vous trouverez bon qu'une mere Vous parle un peu plus hardiment, Et vous verrez qu'egalement, En tous les temps vous savez plaire." At Pregny young Gallatin was the constant guest of his nearest relatives on his father's side, and he was a frequent visitor at Ferney. Those whose fortune it has been to sit at the feet of Mr. Gallatin himself, in the serene atmosphere of his study, after his retirement from active participation in public concerns, may well imagine the influence which the rays of the prismatic character of Voltaire must have had upon the philosophic and receptive mind of the young student.