But perhaps Suffolk Street is chiefly interesting, particularly just now, when Free Trade and Protection are again rivals for our suffrages, as being the last home of Richard Cobden; for here he died in lodgings, at No. 23, on April 2nd, 1865. A memorial tablet marks the house where the great Free Trader breathed his last, and whither he had come only a few weeks previously. [Sidenote: THE OPERA HOUSE, & HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.] On the other side of the Haymarket a very important change has occurred, owing to the demolition of the old theatre, and the erection on its the present house, as well as the building of the Carlton Hotel, which did away with the colonnade, once the noticeable feature of this corner of the Haymarket and Pall Mall. [Illustration: The Opera House Colonnade. PALL MALL EAST. Carlton House Screen.] This old play-house, which, as we have seen, went through many changes of nomenclature, was the work of Sir John Vanbrugh, who was backed by a sum of £30,000, subscribed by 300 people, who had in return a right of free entrance to any of the performances. The lovely Lady Sunderland, Marlborough’s daughter, laid the first stone, in 1703, the theatre being completed two years later, when it was opened with a performance of “The Indian Emperor,” by Dryden. Unfortunately, however, Vanbrugh appears to have thought more of its architectural beauties than its acoustic properties, for not the combined management of Vanbrugh and Congreve (who had joined the poet-architect in the concern), nor the acting of the great Betterton and the company that came with him from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, could make Dryden’s lines or Vanbrugh’s conceits heard even by a tithe of the audience. Vanbrugh was succeeded in the management by Owen MacSwiney, under whom an Opera Company, including the famous Niccolini, gave a series of performances here. A year later, Betterton, who had betaken himself to the rival camp at Drury Lane, was lured back and engaged to act for a month with a strong company supporting him. After this the house was again given over to opera, and Aaron Hill became manager, in 1710. He it was who made overtures to Handel to write the lyrics of an opera, the result being “Rinaldo,” which the master is said to have composed in a couple of weeks. In the following year Heidegger, whose name is to be found in the “Dunciad,” and who was Master of the Revels to George I.--fancy the solemn Hanoverian revelling!--became manager. From 1717 to 1720, no Italian operas were performed in the Haymarket, but in the latter year a number of noblemen and gentlemen combined to start a society chiefly devoted to the performance of Handel’s works, although Bononcini was also employed, hence arising that celebrated feud between the adherents of “Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”