Source note

MURAT (Joachim, Prince). In October, 1800, on the day in which Bartolomeo de Piombo was presented by Lucien Bonaparte, he was, with Lannes and Rapp, in the rooms of Bonaparte, the First Consul. He became Grand Duke of Berg in 1806, the time of the well-known quarrel between the Simeuses and Malin de Gondreville. Murat came to the rescue of Colonel Chabert's cavalry regiment at the battle of Eylau, February 7 and 8, 1807. "Oriental in tastes," he exhibited, even before acceding to the throne of Naples in 1808, a foolish love of luxury for a modern soldier. Twenty years later, during a village celebration in Dauphine, Benassis and Genestas listened to the story of Bonaparte, as told by a veteran, then became a laborer, who mingled with his narrative a number of entertaining stories of the bold Murat. [The Vendetta. The Gondreville Mystery. Colonel Chabert. Peace in the House. The Country Doctor.]