"the dog incog."

A poem by the Scottish poet William Hamilton (1704-54):
* * *
Calm though not mean, courageous without rage,
Serious not dull, and without thinking sage;
Pleased at the lot that nature has assigned.
Snarl as I list, and freely bark my mind;
As churchman wrangle not with jarring spite.
Nor statesmanlike caressing whom I bite;
View all the canine kind with equal eyes,
I dread no mastiff, and no cur despise.
True from the first, and faithful to the end,
I balk no mistress, and forsake no friend.
My days and nights one equal tenour keep.
Fast but to eat, and only wake to sleep.
Thus stealing along life I live incog.,
A very plain and downright honest dog.

  -- from The Dog in British Poetry, R. Maynard Leonard, ed. (London: David Nutt, 1893), p. 234.