with David Hume who was a principal actor in one of the plays. He had actually met Hume earlier when Monboddo was a curator of the Advocates Library and David Hume served as keeper of that library for several years while he wrote his history. From 1769 until 1775 John Hunter acted as his personal secretary. In the era after Monboddo was appointed to Justice of the high court, he organised "learned suppers" at his house on 13 St John Street, off the Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town, where he discussed and lectured about his theories. Local intellectuals were invited to attend attic repasts. Henry Home, Lord Kames was conspicuously absent from such socialising; while Kames and Monboddo served on the high court at the same time and had numerous interactions, they were staunch intellectual rivals. Monboddo rode to London on horseback each year and visited Hampton Court as well as other intellectuals of the era; the King himself was fond of Monboddo's colourful discussions. Monboddo died at home 13 St John Street in the Canongate district of Edinburgh on 26 May 1799 and is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh along with his daughter Elizabeth where they have unmarked graves in the burial enclosure of Patrick Grant, Lord Elchies (within the non-public section known as the Covenanters Prison). Historical linguistics In The Origin and Progress of Language Burnett analysed the structure of languages, and argued that humans had evolved language skills in response to changing environment and social structures. Burnett was the first to note that some languages create lengthy words for rather simple concepts. He reasoned that in early languages there was an imperative for clarity, so that redundancy was built in and seemingly unnecessary syllables added. He concluded that this form of language evolved when clear communication might be the determinant of avoiding danger. Monboddo studied languages of peoples colonised by Europeans, including those of the Carib, Eskimo, Huron, Algonquian, Peruvian (Quechua?) and Tahitian peoples. He saw the preponderance of polysyllabic words, where some of his predecessors had dismissed these languages as a series of monosyllabic grunts. He also observed that in Huron (or Wyandot) the words for very similar objects are astoundingly different. This fact led Monboddo to perceive that these peoples needed to communicate reliably regarding a more limited number of subjects than in modern civilisations, which led to the polysyllabic and redundant nature of