uld have doubled it had he been less erratic in the matter of fees.
Upon one occasion he was sent eight thousand dollars for winning a suit,
and returned seven. He invariably placed his own valuation upon a case,
and frequently refused large fees that would have been paid with
gratitude. If a case interested him and the man who asked his services
were poorer than himself, he would accept nothing. If he were convinced
that a man was in the wrong, he would not take his case at any price. He
was delighted to be able to shower benefits upon his little family, and
he would have ceased to be Alexander Hamilton had he been content to
occupy a second place at the bar, or in any other pursuit which engaged
his faculties; but for money itself, he had only contempt. Perhaps that
is the reason why he is so out of tune with the present day, and unknown
to the average American.

Washington, after the retirement of John Jay, had offered Hamilton the
office of Chief Justice of the United States; but Hamilton felt that
the bar was more suited to his activities than the bench, and declined
the gift. His legal career was as brilliant and successful as his
political, but although none is more familiar to ambitious lawyers, and
his position as the highest authority on constitutional law has never
been rivalled, his achievements of greater value to the Nation have
reduced it in history to the position of an incident. There is little
space left, and somewhat of his personal life still to tell, but no
story of Hamilton would be complete without at least a glimpse of this
particular shuttle in the tireless loom of his brain. Such glimpses have
by no one been so sharply given as by his great contemporary, Chancellor
Kent.

He never made any argument in court [Kent relates] without
displaying his habits of thinking, resorting at once to some
well-founded principle of law, and drawing his deductions logically
from his premises. Law was always treated by him as a science,
founded on established principles.... He rose at once to the
loftiest heights of professional eminence, by his profound
penetration, his power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and
strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frankness and
integrity of his character.... His manners were affable, gentle and
kind; and he appeared to be frank, liberal and courteous in all his
professional intercourse. [Referring to a part