Note 25 — Part I

The use of scales suggests that Franklin probably knew Aristophanes' The Frogs. It is more likely, however that he was acquainted with the use of scales in contemporary witch trials. In the Gentleman's Magazine for Jan., 1731, there is an account of a witch trial at "Burlington, in Pensilvania," in the course of which scales and the Bible were used. (See Brand's Popular Antiquities [H. Ellis, ed., London, 1888], III, 35.) In the same magazine for Feb., 1759, is an account of a similar trial which took place in England (ibid., III, 22).