at his own expense. But in 1868
came the revolution which dethroned Isabel II, and in the confusion
that followed the downfall of the ministry and the hasty withdrawal of
Gonzalez Bravo to the French frontier the volume of poems was lost.
This was a sad blow to Becquer, but he courageously set to work to
repair the loss, and with painful effort succeeded in recalling and
rewriting his _Rimas_, which were published after his death in the
third volume of his works by his friend Correa.

Becquer, with extreme punctiliousness, tendered his resignation as
censor of novels. A pension of 10,000 reals that the government had
assigned to Valeriano for the study of national customs was withdrawn,
and both brothers were again deprived of permanent employment. They
joined forces, and while the one sketched admirable woodcuts for the
_Almanac Anual_ of Gaspar y Roig, the other wrote such original
articles as _Las Hojas Secas_, or chafed under such hack work as the
translation of popular novels from the French, which language he read
with ease, though he did not speak it well. Gustavo had already felt
and described the charm of the old Moorish city of Toledo in his
_Historia de los Templos de Espana_, and in 1869 he and Valeriano
moved their little household temporarily to the city of their dreams,
with a view to finding inspiration for their pens and brushes, and
thus subsistence for their joint families.[1]

[Footnote 1: It was at this time that Gustavo wrote the letter which
is published for the first time on page xxxix.]

An amusing account is given by Correa of an adventure that befell the
two brothers one night in Toledo as they were wandering about its
streets. He says: "One magnificent moonlight night both artists
decided to contemplate their beloved city bathed in the fantastic
light of the chilly orb. The painter armed with pencils and the writer
with his souvenirs had abandoned the old city and on a ruined wall had
given themselves up for hours to their artistic chatter ... when a
couple of _Guardias civiles_, who had doubtless those days been
looking for marauders, approached them. They heard something of apses,
squinches, ogives, and other terms as suspicious or as dangerous ...
and observing the disarray of those who thus discoursed, their long
beards, their excited mien, the lateness of the hour, the solitude of
the place, and obeying especially that axiomatic certainty of the
Spanish police to blunder, they ang