To preserve the narrative of the siege unbroken down to the critical period at which it has now arrived, it has been necessary to withhold our attention from the proceedings of the Duke of Lorraine and the army of the Empire. We left them in the early part of July unable to cope with the tenfold numbers of the Turkish host, and compelled to await at safe distance, and scarcely in a threatening attitude, the accession of German levies and of the promised succour of the Poles. The former mustered with somewhat of the slowness and circumspection which have in all ages characterized the motions of the Germanic body. Distance retarded the junction of the Poles, whose contingents had in many instances to march from the Ukraine. The first care then of Lorraine, was to bring together the troops of the Empire, and Crems, with its bridge over the Danube, was the main position chosen for that purpose. In the first instance, indeed, the Duke had proposed to make a stand in the Leopoldstadt, and by means of têtes-du-pont at the several bridges of the arms of the river, to keep up a direct communication with the city, virtually, in fact, to make his force a part of the garrison. The danger of such an expedient, however, became instantly palpable. The summer was a dry one, and the small arm of the river nearest the city was fordable in several places. To place 10,000 cavalry in a position so acceptable to the attack of the whole Turkish army, and which also from its relative level was commanded from the whole extent of the opposite banks, would have been certain destruction. The army of Tekeli, also, coming over the March field, threatened the rear of the Imperialists, and gave them much anxiety. The Duke therefore selected a series of positions the best calculated to prevent the enemy from occupying the left bank of the Danube, and shifted his head-quarters as circumstances indicated, between Jedlesee and Stockerau, till he finally fixed them at Crems. His next care was to arm and garrison as extensively as possible the fortified and tenable places of Lower Austria. He confided Crems to the care of the generals Dunnewald and Leslie, Tuln to the Baron d’Orlique; and even Closterneuburg, scarcely five English miles from Vienna, which had beaten off an attack of the Turks, under its commandant, Marcel Ortner, was supplied with a garrison. Count Herberstein covered with a corps the avenues to Styria, already threatened by the enemy. Neustadt was sufficiently garrisoned; and in several instances from these strongholds successful sallies were directed against the marauding bands of the enemy. Measures, late indeed, but energetic, were also adopted for the internal defence of the Austrian provinces. Otho, Count of Traun, in Lower, and Wolf, Count of Weissenthurn, in Upper Austria, directed these with much judgment and activity. The forest passes were guarded with abattis; the fords, especially those of Ybbs and Ens, with palisaded works; and