Low were the whispers, manifold the rumours:
Some said he had been poisoned by Potemkin;
Others talked learnedly of certain tumours,
Exhaustion, or disorders of the same kin;
Some said ’twas a concoction of the humours,
Which with the blood too readily will claim kin:
Others again were ready to maintain,
“ ’Twas only the fatigue of last campaign.”