We each of us think, that whatever we possess, whether children, horses, dogs, houses, or any other things, are better than those of our neighbours, "all our geese are swans." Or, as a common adage has it, "Every crow thinks her own bird fair." This disposition, when not carried to excess, is rather to be encouraged than reproved, as tending to make us contented and happy, in our situations; indulged too much, it occasions our becoming dupes to sycophants and flatterers. None fall so easily under the influence of this prejudice, as poets, orators, and artisans, who are generally as much enamoured with their own productions, as lovers are with the charms of their mistresses. "Nemo unquam, neque poeta, neque orator fuit, qui quenquam meliorem se arbitraretur," there never was poet, or orator, Cicero says, who thought any other superior to himself in his art, nor any lover who did not find more beauty in his mistress than in any other woman.