This is a very different sort of an animal from a lion. We have seen that lions are sought after , tigers on the contrary are themselves the seekers , whence we draw the conclusion, that they are in some manner objectionable animals. A tiger is a very humble beast, for considering himself a thoroughly insignificant being, he is ever anxious to court the company of one more important, whose shadow may be a protection to him. Thus many aspirants to fashion, of slender pretensions, begin their career by commencing tigers to a leader of the ton, or an orthodox exquisite. This tigership is a sort of probation previous to the initiation of the candidate to his ambitioned honours. A tiger is expected to be extremely obliging and subservient, and may, in some respects, be considered as a fashionable valet.

But though tigers act in the capacity of servants, instead of receiving wages from, they pay, many a time, their masters for the honour of serving them. One of this sort of tigers is expected to place his purse as well as himself at the service of his patron. These tigers are generally born and bred in the barbarous regions of the east, whence they are transplanted by some parvenu or other to the west. But there are two other kinds of tigers, inferior certainly to the first. Such is a miserable tiger, who has absolutely nothing to recommend him, not even money, and is ever following, and troubling with his company, those who do not want him: this sort of tiger bears a strong resemblance to a bore. The third class of tigers is that of a tolerated dandy, who being poor, becomes himself the tiger of a tiger , that is, he dangles after the rich parvenu, and shares his horses, cab, dinners, wines, and mistresses. Altogether the office of tigers, even of the better sort, is humble; of another class of tigers we forbear to speak, being altogether a very contemptible one.

Quoted from: Joaquà­n Telesforo de Trueba y Cosà­o: Paris and London. A Novel. Vol. II. London: Colburn, 1831.