AS for _Genii_ or familiar Spirits, good and bad, believ'd and reported, by the most Wise and Learned of the Ancients, to attend Mankind, and the various Operations they have had upon humane Minds as well as Bodies, I cannot but confess, seem very wonderful to my defective Understanding; yet, when we observe what innumerable Instances have been handed to us by the most reputable Authors, both Antique and Modern, attested from Time to Time by unquestionable Authorities, who, that, before he div'd into these Mysteries, look'd upon the same to be Whimsy, can forbear staggering in his Opinion? THE most celebrated Instance of a _Genius_ among the Ancients, is that of _Socrates_, one of the wisest of the Philosophers in the Age he liv'd in, and that he had such a familiar Spirit to attend him, which the _Greeks_ call'd _Dæmon_, and the _Latins Genius_, is sufficiently testify'd by three of his Contemporaries, _viz._ _Plato_, _Xenophon_ and _Antisthenes_, also further confirm'd by _Laertius_, _Plutarch_, _Maximus Tyrius_, _Dion_, _Chrysostomus_, _Cicero_, _Apuleius_, and _Facinas_; besides others more Modern, as, _Tertullian_, _Origen_, _Clemens Alexandrinus_, &c. but that which is of greater Authority than all the Vouchers aforemention'd, is what _Socrates_ says of himself, in _Plato's Theage_, viz. _By some Divine Lot, I have a certain_ Dæmon, _which has follow'd me from my Childhood, as an Oracle_; _and this Voice_, says he, for so he terms it, _whenever it speaks to me, disswades me from engaging in what I am about to put in Action, but never prompts me to attempt any thing_. This, I presume, might be the chief Reason, why _Socrates_ persu'd not his own Inclinations, which were naturally Vicious, as himself confess'd to the Physiognomist, but was always accompany'd with a divine Spirit that restrain'd him from it; for, in speaking to _Alcibiades_, a vicious Noble Man of _Athens_, but reclaim'd by _Socrates_; says he, _My Tutor_ (meaning the Spirit that attended him) _is wiser and better than you_. And to further shew, that what he call'd his _Dæmon_, was something more than a secret Impulse of the Mind, or Dictates of a good Conscience, _Theocritus_ affirms in _Plutarch_, that a Vision attended _Socrates_ from his Childhood, going before him and guiding him in all the Actions of his Life, being a constant light to him in such Affairs as lay not within the reach of humane standing, and that the Spirit often spoke to him, divinely governing and inspiring his Intentions. A thousand Instances of the like nature, I could collect from the Ancients, to prove, that what you have reported to me, in your Letter, may be no Delusion, but real Fact, with all it's surprising Circumstances, could the Task be compris'd within the compass of a Letter, but, a Treatise of this nature, being much fitter for a Volume, I shall only proceed to a few familiar Instances of a more modern Date, that your wonderful Cure may