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 proves his mettle by vanquishing a threatening fiddle player and confining him to the stocks (and later a dungeon), wooden leg and all! The offending fiddle and instrument case hang above the stocks as a reminder of the musician’s transgressions.