On the 23rd of July took place the first assault. Two mines which had been carried under the counterscarp of the Burg and the Löbel bastion were exploded at the same instant, burying 15 of the garrison in the ruins, and tearing up twenty palisades. The Turks rushed over the ruins to the assault, but were quickly and completely repulsed. The second assault, July 25, was directed against the face of the Burg ravelin. It followed as usual the explosion of a mine, and was led by the Janissaries, who, after three successive repulses, retired with a loss of 200 men. The besieged, however, had to lament the loss of some valuable officers, among them of their chief engineer, Rimpler, who died within two days of wounds received in this affair. He is said to have been one of the greatest engineers of his day: he had distinguished himself at the siege of Philipsburg, under the Margrave Herman of Baden, and had written works on subjects of his profession which still retain their value. On the 27th, an assault took place, in the course of which some of the Janissaries surmounted the palisades, but only to perish in the ditch. The Turks lost 300 men. On the side of the besieged, the Major, Baron von Gallenfeld, perished by a poisoned arrow. On the 20th there came in a Turkish flag of truce, bearing a request on the part of the Vizier for an armistice for the purpose of burying his dead, and also a summons fraught with the usual threats of vengeance and extermination. Stahremberg replied, that in the city they were enjoying excellent health, and having no dead to bury could not listen to the proposal for an armistice; as to surrender, they had made up their minds on that head, and were prepared to defend the city while they lived. A proclamation was now issued offering a reward of 100 ducats to any one who would swim the Danube with letters for the Duke of Lorraine: for the moment, however, no candidate presented himself. July 20th a mine was exploded under the Löbel bastion, 20 of the garrison perished, but no assault ensued, and the besieged had leisure to repair the damage. On the 29th the palisades of the Burg gate ravelin were shattered by a mine. By this time the underground operations of the Turks had so far advanced as to give them access to the ditch. Although every attempt of the Turks to pass the ditch was repulsed in hand-to-hand fight, yet the known progress of their engineering operations gave reason for expecting an early and general assault of a more formidable nature than the former, and the watchful Stahremberg neglected no preparation to meet it. The arsenals furnished forth at his order quantities of the devices for laming an advancing enemy, known by various names in various services; in our military language, caltrops; these were distributed at the expected points of attack, and additional lines of palisades were fixed in the inner defences. The sound of bells from church or convent was forbidden,