Hudibras Vanquished by Trulla, plate five from Hudibras

William Hogarth illustrated the story of a sad-sack adventurer named Hudibras in twelve engravings. His source was Samuel Butler’s satirical, mock-heroic poem written in the vein of Cervantes and Rabelais. Ridiculing the puritan party’s attempts to overthrow the British monarchy during the Great Civil War of 1640, Butler’s poem exposes the hypocrisy and pretensions of the Presbyterians, Independents, and Zealots who hoped to establish themselves as leaders.Here, Hudibras takes on more than he can handle in the person of a rather large woman called Trulla, who insists on restoring the fiddle player to liberty. To add insult to injury, Hudibras must give him his fiddle and instrument case back as well.