• Lord Neaves, a judge on the supreme court of Scotland, was quoted by Darwin on evolution, but attributed the concept of evolution to Lord Monboddo, not Darwin?

Facts on topics related to James Burnett, Lord Monboddo

James Boswell

• in addition to Boswell's famous Life (1791), major accounts of Samuel Johnson's life include Biographical Sketch (1784), Anecdotes (1786), the rival Life (1787), Essay (1792), and Thraliana?

Adam Smith

• Japanese historian and economist Taguchi Ukichi has often been referred to as the Adam Smith of Japan?

Benjamin Franklin

• "Fart Proudly" is an essay about flatulence written by Benjamin Franklin?
• Benjamin Franklin's letter Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress was cited in a 1973 United States Supreme Court opinion by justice William O. Douglas?
• Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet was Franklin's proposal for a spelling reform of the English language?
• Pennsylvania Hospital, cofounded by Benjamin Franklin, was the first hospital in the United States?
• famous Benjamin Franklin impersonator Ralph Archbold is married to a woman who impersonates Betsy Ross?
• the Franco-American alliance (Battle of Yorktown pictured) was sealed in February 1778 by Benjamin Franklin, officializing French support in the American War of Independence?
• the death of lighthouse keeper George Worthylake was memorialized in a broadside poem by the young Benjamin Franklin?
• the image of Benjamin Franklin familiar on the U.S. hundred dollar bill was painted by the French painter Joseph Duplessis?

David Hume

• in 1745 William Cleghorn won a University of Edinburgh position after his rival, David Hume, was described by the town council as amoral, an atheist, and a sceptic?
• publishing an illustrated edition of David Hume's The History of England was a financial disaster for Robert Bowyer?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Friar Camilo Henríquez (pictured), a founding father of Chile and editor of Chile's first newspaper, was interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition for possessing banned Enlightenment philosophy, including books by Rousseau and Mercier?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Charlotte von Lengefeld, wife of Friedrich Schiller, wrote a posthumously published novel and corresponded with Charlotte von Stein and Goethe?
• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (pictured) was noted as a patroness of Schiller, Goethe, and Liszt?
• a real-life German alchemist named Johann Georg Faust was the inspiration for Marlowe-Goethe Faust of fictional fame?
• the Comoedienhaus theater, built in 1782, the first theater of performing arts in Frankfurt, Germany, played host to concerts by Mozart, Schiller and Goethe, among others?
• when Caroline von Wolzogen (pictured) published her novel Agnes von Lilien anonymously in 1798, it was thought by some readers to be by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Friedrich Schiller?