ABANDON. 'Sir, a man might write such stuff for ever, if he would
abandon his mind to it,' iv. 183.
ABSTRACT. 'Why, Sir, he fancies so, because he is not accustomed
to abstract,' ii. 99.
ABSURD. 'When people see a man absurd in what they understand, they
may conclude the same of him in what they do not understand,' ii. 466.
ABUSE. 'Warburton, by extending his abuse, rendered it ineffectual,'
v. 93;
'They may be invited on purpose to abuse him,' ii. 362;
'You _may_ abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one,' i. 409.
ACCELERATION. 'You cannot conceive with what acceleration I advance
towards death,' iv. 411.
_Accommodé_. 'J'ai accommodé un dîner qui faisait trembler toute la
France' (recorded by Boswell), v. 310, n. 3.
ACTION. 'Action may augment noise, but it never can enforce
argument,' ii. 211.
ADMIRATION. 'Very near to admiration is the wish to admire,'
iii. 411, n. 2.
AGAIN. 'See him again' (Beauclerk), iv. 197.
ALIVE. 'Are we alive after all this satire?' iv. 29.
ALMANAC. 'Then, Sir, you would reduce all history to no better than
an almanac' (Boswell), ii. 366.
AMAZEMENT. 'His taste is amazement,' ii. 41, n. 1.
AMBASSADOR. 'The ambassador says well,' iii. 411.
AMBITION. 'Every man has some time in his life an ambition to be a
wag,' iv. 1, n. 2.
AMERICAN. 'I am willing to love all mankind, except an American,'
iii. 290.
AMUSEMENTS. 'I am a great friend to public amusements,' ii. 169.
ANCIENTS. 'The ancients endeavoured to make physic a science and
failed; and the moderns to make it a trade and have succeeded'
(Ballow), iii. 22, n. 4.
ANGRY. 'A man is loath to be angry at himself,' ii. 377.
ANTIQUARIAN. 'A mere antiquarian is a rugged being,' iii. 278.
APPLAUSE. 'The applause of a single human being is of great
consequence,' iv. 32.
ARGUES. 'He always gets the better when he argues alone' (Goldsmith),
ii. 236.
ARGUMENT. 'Sir, I have found you an argument, but I am not obliged
to find you an understanding,' iv. 313;
'Nay, Sir, argument is argument,' iv. 281;
'All argument is against it; but all belief is for it,' iii. 230;
'Argument is like an arrow from a cross-bow' (Boyle), iv. 282.
ASINUS. 'Plus negabit unus asinus in una hora quam centum philosophi
probaverint in centum annis,' ii. 268, n. 2.
ASPIRED. 'If he aspired to meanness his retrograde ambition was
completely gratified,' v. 148, n. 1.
ATHENIAN. 'An Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads,' i. 73.
ATTACKED. 'I would rather be attacked than unnoticed,' iii. 375.
ATTENTION. 'He died of want of attention,' ii. 447.
ATTITUDENISE. 'Don't _attitudenise_,' iv. 323.
ATTORNEY. 'Now it is not necessary to know our thoughts to tell that
an attorney will sometimes do nothing,' iii. 297;
'He did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he
believed the gentleman was an attorney,' ii. 126.
AUCTION-ROOM. 'Just fit to stand at the door of an auction-room with a
long pole, and cry "Pray gentlemen, walk in,"' ii. 349.
AUDACITY. 'Stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt,' ii. 292, n. 1.
AUTHORS. 'Authors are like privateers, always fair game for one another,'
iv. 191, n. 1;
'The chief glory of every people arises from its authors,' v. 137, n. 2.
AVARICE. 'You despise a man for avarice, but do not hate him,' iii. 71.