sentences:  A desultory bombardment was maintained, particularly by the mortars, until 25 August, when it was intensified.An attempt that day by Massey to disrupt it with a sally from the north gate was beaten back by cavalry, but as before, a shortage of ammunition – at one stage the Royalists resorted to firing stones – blunted the impact, and little damage was done to the city.Following news that the Earl of Essex was raising a Parliamentarian army in London, Charles and Rupert travelled to Oxford on 26 August, where they held a two-day council of war.