Of his fierce pulse betoken a condition

Which augured of the dead, however quick

Itself, and showed a feverish disposition;

At which the whole Court was extremely troubled,

The Sovereign shocked, and all his medicines doubled.

XL.

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;[544]