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amlets and rich villas, nothing could be seen but smoking ruins; the fruit-trees had been uprooted, the vines pulled up, the crops laid waste. Here and there were the bodies of peasants swinging from the trees, the ground was strewed with booty abandoned carelessly by the marauders. The plain once so green and smiling, appeared as sad and barren as a Russian steppe. This desolation afflicted. Erwin painfully, and he rode rapidly forward to escape the mournful spectacle. Soon could be seen the tents of the Imperial camp, with the varied standards floating proudly above the sharp roofs of the canvas city. The vague hum of the multitude was mingled with the clang of arms and the strains of martial music, and the noise of the workmen in the trenches. From the elevated point on which he stood, Erwin could distinguish the beleaguered city with its mighty walls above which towered the brilliant edifices and lofty turrets. As he gazed with admiration upon the town, Rechberg could not but experience a feeling of sorrow at the thought that all this greatness and power was doomed to destruction. After a short ride he found himself in the interior of the camp, where it was easy to perceive that he was almost entirely surrounded by the Italian contingents. The complete investment of the city was impossible, and Frederic, in consequence, had established four distinct attacks, surrounded by strong palisades and deep ditches as a protection to the sorties of the besieged. Although, at intervals of distance, the camps commanded all the avenues of approach, and it was impossible for the garrison to receive any supplies or reinforcements, or hold any communication with the exterior. As it had been decided to reduce the place by famine, a rigid blockade was enforced, and the different leaders were relieved from the necessity of constructing any of those clumsy machines, under cover of which in those days the assaults upon the works were conducted. However, Henry the Lion had ordered the building of an immense tower whose proportions excited general astonishment. It was upon wheels, six stories in height, and could accommodate beneath it a thousand soldiers. The upper part was narrower and provided with doors, through which the garrison could pass, by means of temporary bridges, on to the walls of the city. Sorties from the town were of almost daily occurrence, and the personal hatred of the combatants gave to these engagements a most
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