The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-01-21 00:00:00

ZURBANO AND HIS SON BENITO

The following descriptive account of the celebrated
Zurbano, and his son, is from the pen of an English
officer, who served some time in Spain:—
Zurbano, when only a Major in the army, or Li"ute-
nant•-Colonel of cuerpos fraticos, with not more than 500
men at his command, had, by several daring exploits,
made himself a reputation, and I examined him with some
curiosity. To judge from his appearance, he was about
45 years of age, perhaps rather more, but in activity and
strength I should say he was full ten years younger. I
have rarely seen a man who gave me more the idea of one
capable of undergoing great fatigue and hardship, He
was rather short in stature, about five feet seven inches,
I think; but being somewhat round-should"red, he ap-
peared less than that. In person he was spare, no super-
fluous flesh about him, but an abundance of bone and
sinew. The prevailing character of his face, which was
much tanned and weatherbeaten, was one of indomitable
resolution. His eyes, which were great and deep set,
overhung by bushy and projecting brows, had a quick,
intelligent expression, and at times, when he was not in
any way excited, almost a thoughtful one, but when
roused—in action for instance—they gleamed fiercely.
His lips were thin and unusually compressed, and certain
lines about the mouth gave rather a cruel expression to
his face ; but his smile was frank, and by no means dis-
agreeable. He wore no beard, save a soldier's whisker
to the bottom of the ear. His usual, I may say his inva-
riable, costume consisted of a zumara or loose jacket of
sheepskin, a scarlet boina, or Basque cap, such as the
Carlists wore, with a large starlike gold tassel spreading
over the top, blue or red overalls, heavy boots, and long,
jingling, Spanish spurs. His neck was usually bare ; his
gloves must hare been a very trifling expense to him ; his
cavalry sabre was slung to a belt of common black lea-
ther. He had a most unbounded contempt for what he
seemed to consider the fopperies of uniform, and always
preferred the unmilitary, but by no means unpicturesque.
dress above described—probably the very same he had
worn when a contrabandisata. Subsequently to this,
when he had attained far greater celebrity than at the
time I speak of, and had ascended sten by step, in spite
of jealousy and disfavour, to the command of a brigade,
it was intimated to him by the General of the division to
which he belonged, that it wall desirable he should con-
form to the regulations of the service, and appear upon
parade in the uniform of his rank. I had left Spain be-
fore that period, but I have since had described to me,
what I can well imagine, the ludicrous annoyance and
discomfiture of Zurbano, at being compelled to abandon
his usual neglige garb, and don the cocked-hat and fea-
ther. and the tightly-buttoned coat, with cuffs and collar
stiffened by embroidery, of a Spanish General's costume.
The son of Zurbano was as remarkable in his way as
his father. When I first saw him, he was not sixteen
years old, puny and diminutive for his age, with a little,
pale, sickly-looking face, very red lips, large dark eyes,
and a voice like a woman in a passion, always upon the
scream. How it was that so delicate-looking an urchin
managed to support the hardships of a guerilla life, I
cannot explain; but I suppose it was his pluck and energy
that carried him through. Girt with a sword nearly as
long as himself, carrying a light lance, and perched upon
a tall horse that would have made a good charger for a
man of twelae stone weight, he used to gallop about at
the head of his father's cavalry, then consisting of some
five-and-twenty badly equipped and mounted lancers,
chiefly deserters from the Carlists. He was already a
Cornet in the Spanish service, and not sharing his father's
contempt for dress, he used to come out on fete-days,
and other grand occasions, in a most dapper uniform,
with a broad silver band down the side of his overalls, a
closely-fitting green jacket, and foraging-cap of fanciful
device. At such times he put me in mind of one of the
smartly-painted wooden soldiers, used as toys for children
—not that he by any means played at soldiering—it was
right-down earnest with him ; and one of his father's
officers assured me, that young Zurhano had already di-
minished the numbers of Don Carlos's army by no less
than eleven men. If this was true, Ido not suppose he
had slain them all in single combat—probably the majo-
rity were fugitives that he had overtaken and killed ; but,
nevertheless, he was skilful in the use of his weapons and
management of his horse, and possessed more muscular
strength than his delicate appearance indicated. He was
a blood-thirsty young imp, I recollect one day, after a

skirmish, we had driven the Carlists out of a village in
Alava, and 1 found myself pursuing a fellow who was
scampering in great haste across a field. I was close to
him, when up came young Zurbano, swearing most lus-
tily, in his squealing tones, his lance down, and preparing
to give the poor devil his quietus, by means of a vigorous
" front point." I was just in time to turn his lance aside,
and then I thought he would have made a poke at me, he
seemed so bent upon sticking somebody. I prevailed
upon him, however, to spare the unlucky Carlist, and he
took him back as a prisoner, driving him before him, and
occasionally stimulating his progress by a prick with his
lance point.