the title of Lord Cranfield; and, in the same year, he was made Lord High Treasurer. By letters patent, dated September 16th, 1622, he was created Earl of Middlesex.* But he had now attained the summit of his fortune, and was doomed briefly to experience the uncertainty of court favour. Forming a false estimate of the degree of displeasure which the Duke of Buckingham had incurred by the mode in which he terminated the romantic journey of himself and Prince Charles into Spain, the Earl of Middlesex ventured to dispute the commands of the haughty Duke, and he fell the victim of such temerity. Buckingham's party was still powerful among the leading men of both Houses; grounds for an accusation were speedily formed; and the Lord Treasurer was deprived of his office, was subjected to a fine of 50,000l. and was committed prisoner to the Tower. "By losing his office," says Fuller," he saved himself; departing from his Treasurer's place, which in that age was hard to keep, insomuch that one asking what was good to preserve life, was answered, • Get to be Lord Treasurer of England, for they never do dye in their Place!' which indeed, was true for four successions. "Retiring to his magnificent house at Copthall, he there enjoyed himself contentedly; entertained his friends bountifully; neighbours hospitably; poor charitably. He was a proper person, of comely presence, chearful yet grave countenance; and, surely, a solid and wise man."+ He died in 1645, at the age of 70, and was succeeded in the earldom by his son James, whose daughter and heir married John, the third Earl of Bridgewater, one of the most distinguished nobles of the 17th century. James, Earl of Middlesex, dying in 1651, was succeeded in the title by his brother Lionel; at whose death without male issue, in 1674, the earldom expired. Lady Frances, daughter to Lionel Cranfield, first Earl of Middlesex, A 2 Collins's Peerage, continued by Sir E. Brydges, Vol. IX. t Fuller's Worthies. Middlesex. Middlesex, was married to Richard the fifth Earl of Dorset ; and this lady was, at length, heir to Lionel, her brother. Charles Lord Buckhurst, eldest son of the Countess, and af terwards sixth Earl of Dorset, being possessed of the estate of his uncle Lionel, was, in the year 1675, created Earl of Middlesex. The virtues and accomplishments of this noble. man, whose name is conspicuous in the annals of his country, were calculated to impart lustre to any title; and there appeared a peculiar felicity in his accession to this Earldom, as an ancestor of his lordship had exercised, with marked energy and patriotism, the duties of Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Middlesex.* George John Frederick Sackville, Duke and Earl of Dorset, is likewise Earl of Middlesex, Baron of Buckhurst, and Baron of Cranfield. The letters patent by which the ancestor of his Grace was created Earl of Middlesex, are dated at Westminster, April 4th, 1675. A due notice of several Charitable Institutions, which embrace in the benevolence of their intention the whole of the county of Middlesex, will be found in the third Part, or Volume, of these Delineations of London and the attached county. In the same volume are mentioned the Courts of Justice, Police Offices, and Prisons, designed for this populous district. We Edward, fourth Earl of Dorset, one of the most loyal adherents to Charles I. "His Lordship," writes Collins, "had too discerning a judgement not to perceive the designs of those who involved us in the utmost confusion; and had the interest of his country so much at heart as to oppose all their unwarrantable proceedings; for, at that time as the Bill against the Bishops depended in the house of Peers, and means had been used to bring down a mob to insult them, he, as Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex, having command of the train-bands, ordered them to fire, which so frighted the rabble, that they left the place." Peerage augmented and continued, &c. Vol. II. p. 162. 2 We have observed that Middlesex, exclusive of the cities of London and Westminster, is divided into six Hundreds. These Hundreds are thus designated : The same number of Hundreds is mentioned in the record termed Domesday, but the names are thus written: Osvlvestane. Gara. Heletorne, or Helethorne. Speletorne, or Spelethorne. Honeslaw. From this extract, and from our previous enumeration of the modern Hundreds, it will be obvious that the political divisions of Middlesex have experienced little alteration since the period of the Conquest. The entries for this county in Domesday are so incomplete, that it is impossible to form, from that Record, a satisfactory statement of the places or manors then comprised in the respective Districts; but it would appear probable that the Hundred there termed Honeslaw, was the same, as to extent, with the modern Isleworth. The following Tables of the Number of Inhabitants, &c. of this County, are extracted from the Returns made under the Act of Parliament for ascertaining the Population of Great Britain, in the year 1811. |