"Trim was admitted upon the table of almost every officer and man in the ship: In the gunroom he was always the first ready for dinner; but though he was commonly seated a quarter of an hour before any other person, his modest reserve was such that his voice was not heard until every body else was served. He then put in his request, not for a full allowance, he was too modest, – nor did he desire there should be laid for him a plate, knife, fork, or spoon with all which he could very well dispense; – but by a gentle caressing mew, he petitioned for a little, little bit, a kind of tythe from the plate of each, and it was to no purpose to refuse it, for Trim was enterprising in time of need, as he was gentle and well bred in ordinary times. Without the greatest attention to each morsel, in the person whom he had petioned [sic] in vain; he would whip it off the fork with his paw, on it's passage to the mouth, with such dexterity and an air so graceful, that it rather excited admiration than anger. He did not, however, leap off the table with his prize, as if he had done wrong; but putting the morsel into his mouth and eating it quietly, would go to the next person and repeat his little mew: if refused his wonted tythe, he stood ready to take all advantages."

Image used by kind permission of Lisette Flinders Petrie.