who resisted the idea, Bécquer finally left for Madrid in October of that same year, alone and quite poor, except for the little money that his uncle provided for him. The third friend, Campillo, did not leave Seville until some time later. Life in Madrid was not easy for the poet. The dream of fortune that had guided his steps towards the city were replaced by a reality of poverty and disillusionment. The two friends were soon joined by Luis García Luna, also a poet from Seville, who shared the same dreams of greatness. The three began writing and trying to make themselves known as authors, without much luck. Bécquer, the only one of the three without a real job and a steady income, went to live with an acquaintance of Luna, Doña Soledad. A year later, in 1854, he moved to Toledo with his brother Valeriano, a lovely place in which he was able to write his book: "History of the Spanish temples". The poet was interested in Lord Byron and his "Hebrew Melodies" or his "Heine del Intermezzo", with Eulogio Florentino's help in the translation. The poet died on 22 December 1870 from tuberculosis, an illness known as "the romantic illness" because of how common it was during the romantic period in Spain. Before this tragic sickness took his life away, Bécquer asked his good friend, Augusto Ferrán, also a poet, to burn all his letters and publish his poems instead, since he thought once he was dead, his work would be more valuable. His body was buried in Madrid, and afterwards was moved to Seville along with his brother's. Early career After several failed commercial attempts with his friends, the writer finally accepted a job as a writer for a small newspaper. This, however, did not last long, and soon Gustavo was out of a job again. It was then that, in 1855, Valeriano arrived in Madrid, and Gustavo went to live with his brother. They would never be apart after that. After a few other unsuccessful attempts at publishing their work, Bécquer and Luna began working together writing comic plays for theater, as a means of making a living. This collaboration continued until 1860. At that time, Bécquer worked intensively on his belated project Historia de los templos de España (History of Spain's temples), the first volume of which saw the light of day in 1857.