d on the river Morava, that it could not be
completely invested without weakening the posts of the besieging army,
by extending them to a prodigious circuit; so that, in some parts,
they were easily forced by detachments in the night, who fell upon them
suddenly, and seldom failed to introduce into the place supplies of men,
provisions, and ammunition. The forage in the neighbourhood of the city
having been previously destroyed, the Prussian horse were obliged to
make excursions at a great distance, consequently exposed to fatigue,
and liable to surprise; and, in a word, the Prussians were not very
expert in the art of town-taking.

Count Daun knew how to take advantage of these circumstances without
hazarding a battle, to which the king provoked him in vain. While
the garrison made repeated sallies to retard the operations of the
besiegers, the' Austrian general harassed their foraging parties, fell
upon different quarters of their army in the night, and kept them in
continual alarm. Nevertheless, the king finished his first parallel; and
proceeded with such vigour as seemed to promise a speedy reduction
of the place, when his design was entirely frustrated by an untoward
incident. Mareschal Daun, having received intelligence that a large
convoy had set out from Silesia for the Prussian camp, resolved to seize
this opportunity of compelling the king to desist from his enterprise.
He sent general Jahnus, with a strong body of troops, towards Bahrn,
and another detachment to Stadtoliebe, with instructions to attack
the convoy on different sides; while he himself advanced towards the
besiegers, as if he intended to give them battle. The king of Prussia,
far from being deceived by this feint, began, from the motions of the
Austrian general, to suspect his real scheme, and immediately despatched
general Ziethen, with a strong reinforcement, to protect the convoy,
which was escorted by eight battalions, and about four thousand men, who
had been sick, and were just recovered. Before this officer joined them,
the convoy had been attacked on the twenty-eighth day of June; but
the assailants were repulsed with considerable loss. Mareschal Daun,
however, took care that they should be immediately reinforced; and
next day the attack was renewed with much greater effect. Four hundred
waggons, guarded by four battalions, and about one thousand troopers,
had just passed the defiles of Domstadt, when the Austrians charged them
furiousl