Please answer the following question: Facts: - death place: edinburgh , scotland - known for: philosophy , linguistics , jurisprudence - caption: engraving -lrb- after john brown -rrb- of lord monboddo by c. sherwin , 1787 - death date: 26 may 1799 - birth date: 25 october 1714 - name: james burnett , lord monboddo - ethnicity: scottish - image: image : lord monboddo01.jpg - birth place: monboddo house , kincardineshire , scotland Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of james burnett , lord monboddo .
Answer:
james burnett , lord monboddo -lrb- baptised 25 october 1714 ; died 26 may 1799 -rrb- , was a scottish judge , scholar of linguistic evolution , philosopher and deist .he is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics .in 1767 he became a judge in the court of session .as such , burnett adopted an honorary title based on the name of his father 's estate and family seat , monboddo house .monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of early concepts of evolution .some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of natural selection that was developed into a scientific theory by charles darwin .