Licking Ass...

...the British way:

Being both a history and a book buff, I have in my possession a reprint of the diary kept by Samuel Hearne, the first "Whiteman" to travel overland, in what was to become Canada, and gaze upon the Arctic Ocean. He dedicates the book as follows:

"To

SAMUEL WEGG, Esq - Governor
Sir JAMES WINTER LAKE, Deputy Governor

and

THE REST OF THE COMMITTEE

of the Honourable 

HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

HONOURABLE SIRS,

As the following Journey was undertaken at your Request and Expense,

I feel it no less my Duty than my Inclination to address it to you; hoping that my humble Endeavours to relate,  in a plain and unadorned Style, the various Circumstances and Remarks which occurred during that Journey, will meet with your Approbation.

I am, with much Esteem and Gratitude,
HONOURABLE SIRS,

Your most obedient, and

most obliged humble Servant,

SAMUEL HEARNE."

Those were the days (1769-1772).