and claimed the rank of colonel. The king replied, by appointing him one
of his orderly officers, as a proof of the good opinion he had of him.
"I recollect that I was so engrossed by admiration of the elegance of
his appearance, and the affability of his address, that I omitted
expressing my thanks. He talked to me a great deal about the Neapolitan
army, and manifested a confidence in us that even exceeded my own; and,
God knows, that was not small. His conversation filled me with such
delight, that, had it not been for fear lest he should mistake my ardour
of patriotism for courtier-like flattery, I could have fallen at his
feet and worshipped him. It seemed to me that I beheld in him the
Charles XII. of the Neapolitans."

Murat was the very man to become at once popular with an excitable and
imaginative people. His handsome person, his dash and brilliancy, his
reputation for romantic and chivalrous courage, his winning smile, and
affable manner, prepossessed the Neapolitans in his favour, and they
joyfully received him in exchange for Joseph. But the dashing commander
was not of the stuff of which kings should be made; still less was he
the man to found and consolidate a new dynasty, and reduce to order a
fickle and divided nation. Strong-handed, but weak-headed,--a capital
man of action, but valueless at the council-board,--Murat's place was at
the head of charging squadrons. There he was a host in himself; in the
cabinet he was a cipher. He was not equal even to the organisation of
the troops whom, in the field, he so effectively handled. His good
nature rendered him unwilling to refuse a favour, and, as there were no
fixed and stringent regulations for the appointment and promotion of
officers, the higher posts of his army were often most inefficiently
occupied. "He could never resist the supplications of the courtiers,
still less the entreaties of the ladies about the court."--(_Pépé's
Memoirs_, page 262.) And again, "Murat was a Charles XII. in the field,