A fat and jolly horned devil in the confessional box, with a confessor of the fair sex kneeling at one side, while at the extreme right two small acolytes point out to each other a suspicious looking tail that protrudes from beneath her skirts, thus stamping her as Satan's own.
A belfry window with a swinging bell, and bestriding the bell a skeleton tightly clutching the upper part of it--ringing the _ánimas_ perhaps.
Gustavo himself seated smoking, leaning back in his chair, and in the smoke that rises a series of women, some with wings.
A nun in horror at discovering, as she turns down the covers of her bed, a merry devil.
A woman's coffin uncovered by the sexton, while a lover standing by exclaims, "¡¡Cáscaras!! ¡cómo ha cambiado!"
A scene at the _Teatro Real_ with Señor Espin y Guillén in a small group behind the scenes, and a prima donna singing. Actors standing apart in the wings.
A visit to the cemetery. A skeleton thrusting out his head from his burial niche, and a young man presenting his card. "DIFUNTO: No recibo. VISITANTE: Pues hai (_sic_) queda la targeta (_sic_)."
A fine sketch of "Eleonora," a stately form in rich fifteenth-century garb.
A number of sketches of women, knights, monks, devils, soldiers, skeletons, etc.
_Second Album: Les morts pow rire, Bizarreries dédiées à Mademoiselle Julie, par G. A. Becker (sic)_.
Fantastic frontispiece of skulls, bones, and leafy fronds, and two young lovers seated, sketching.
Skeletons playing battledore and shuttlecock with skulls.
A tall slim skeleton and a round short one.
A skeleton widow visiting her husband's grave.
The husband returning her visit, and coming to share her lunch in the park.
A circus of skeletons, in two scenes: (1) Leaping through the hoop. (2) One skeleton balancing himself, head downward, on the head of another who is standing.
A woman recently deceased, surrounded by skeletons offering their compliments. They are presented by one of their number, with hat in hand.
A balcony courting scene between skeleton lovers.
The word _FIN_ in bones concludes the series of grotesque and uncanny sketches, which but emphasize a fact ever present in the poet's mind--that while we are in life we _are_ in death.]
Finding his devotion to Julia unrequited, Becquer, in a rebellious mood, and having come under the influence of the charms and blandishments of a woman of Soria, a certain Casta Estéban y Navarro, contracted, in or about the year 1861, an unfortunate marriage, which embittered the rest of his life and added cares and expenses which he could ill support. He lived with his wife but a short time, during which period two sons were born to them--Gustavo, whose later career was unfortunately not such as to bring credit to the memory of his illustrious father, and, Jorge, who died young. Becquer was passionately fond of his children, and succeeded in keeping them with him after the separation from his wife. They were constantly the objects of his affectionate solicitude, and his last thoughts were for them.