A pencil, pen and ink and wash preparatory drawing for the frontispiece to a set of prints from Samuel Butler's Hudibras. Butler himself is shown in an oval at the top of the composition. Incised, and accompanied by an explanation of the design:

The Basso Relievo, on the Pedestal, Represents the general Design of Mr Butler, in his Incomparable Poem of Hudibras, Viz. Butler's Genius in a Car Lashing around mount Parnassus in the Persons of Hudibras, Ralpho, Rebellion, Hypocrisy, and Ignorance, the Reigning Vices of his time.

Samuel Butler's Hudibras, published in 1662, is a lengthy poem satirising the hypocrisy of Puritanism during the English Civil War. In the eighteenth century it was often seen as an English counterpart to Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. Hogarth was attracted to its satire of religious fanaticism and made two sets of prints depicting episodes from the story. The first set was created in the early 1720s, but not published until April 1726, and intended as book illustrations. This design is for the frontispiece of the second series, intended as thirteen independent engravings, and published by Philip Overton in the spring of 1726. The frontispiece is an allegory in which a putto carves a marble frieze representing 'Mr Butler's Genious', and showing a satyr driving a chariot containing the poem's anti-heroes, Hudibras and Ralpho.

In the finished print, the figure playing a cello at left is replaced by the seated figure of Britannia, looking at herself in a mirror and holding a shield; Hogarth implies that as well as the character of Hudibras, the satire reflects the nation itself. The drawing gives fascinating insights into Hogarth's working process: the drawing for this portion was evidently superimposed over this sheet at a later point, as the tip of Britannia's spear appears on the frieze and must have been continued from the added portion, either because it was too small, or to ensure the altered portion was correctly mapped onto the rest of the design. Butler's tomb, which had been installed in Westminster Abbey in 1721, appears in the background of the print but is very different in the drawing. In total, the Royal Collection has six drawings relating to the later Hudibras series and one for the earlier set (RCINs 913459-65).