Middlesex

Middlesex, one of the southern counties of England, has Hertfordshire on the north, Essex on the east, Buckinghamshire on the west, and Surrey on the south. It was the country of the middle Saxons, lying between Essex and Wessex, but was never an independent kingdom. From 1101 until 1888 the county belonged in theory to the city of London, whose mayor was its lord-lieutenant. The surface is gently undulating, with no river except on its eastern, western, and southern boundaries. The larger part of the land is under pasture; the rest consists chiefly of parks and market-gardens. Brentford, Uxbridge, Hounslow, and Harrow are the only towns of any size, but there are many large villages.

Near Barnet, in the north, was fought the battle of 1471, in which Warwick fell. The population is very dense, especially in the neighbourhood of London, which now forms a separate "county."