A red chalk preparatory drawing for the second engraving in a set of prints from Samuel Butler's Hudibras. The drawing is worked in red chalk with annotations and amendments in black chalk. 

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 second print of the second series, intended as thirteen independent engravings, and published by Philip Overton in the spring of 1726.

This design shows Sir Hudibras and his squire Ralpho as Puritans setting out to preach the word to the sinners of the world. Both characters are ridiculed in their mission, with Hudibras depicted as a paunchy figure on an exhausted horse. The drawing does not show the house on the right, which is indicated in pencil on a trial proof in the Royal Library, and which features in the finished engraving. In total, the Royal Collection has six drawings relating to the later Hudibras series and one for the earlier set (RCINs 913459-65).