Watermark: fragment of a coat of arms.
The drawing may have been one of the illustrations for George Daniel's (1789-1864) "Dr. Bolus", a "serio-comick-bombastick-operatick interlude" performed on 21 July 1818 at the English Opera House (afterwards the Lyceum).
Signed(?) at lower right, in graphite, "Cruikshank;" inscribed at upper edge, "Harley as King Artipadiates - in Dr. Bolus -."
Sturges, Henry C. (Henry Cady), 1846-1922, former owner.
Parker, Dudley F., Mrs., former owner.
Daniel, George, 1789-1864. Doctor Bolus.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 252.