PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. Volume 109, November 2, 1895. _edited by Sir Francis Burnand_ [Illustration: "WEATHER PERMITTING,"--MR. PUNCH DRIVES TO THE FIRST MEET.] * * * * * TOOLEIANA; OR, THE MOOR THE MERRIER.--At the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in answer to calls for a speech, at the termination of his visit with _Thoroughbred_, Mr. J. L. TOOLE presented himself to the audience "habited in his sables" as the nigger minstrel. _Mr. Punch's_ Own Popular Comedian was in excellent health and in his best, _i.e._, his own, "form." He explained that, despite appearances which might lead to such a conclusion, he was _not_ about to join the Christy Minstrels. However, it was probable, but not yet definitely settled, that in the next revival of the Shakspearian tragedy at the London Lyceum, he might impersonate _Othello_ to the _Iago_ of his friend Sir HENRY IRVING. We hope so. What crowded houses! Booking-office should open at once. * * * * * THE MINISTER OF FINE ARTS. (_From a Newspaper of the Future._) Many years ago, in 1895, our esteemed contemporary, the _Daily Graphic_, suggested the appointment of a Minister of Fine Arts. This seemingly admirable scheme was soon after carried out. The first Minister was a cautious man. His one great improvement, which met with universal approval, was to remove all the statues and fountains from every part of London, and to place them in a row on Romney Marsh, from Dungeness to Hythe, where they would undoubtedly scare away any French army endeavouring to land. The second Minister tried to introduce the so-called "Queen Anne," or Dutch architecture, and prepared a scheme for altering the whole of London. As a beginning, the north side of Oxford Street, from Holborn to the Marble Arch, was completely transformed. Along the whole distance stretched a fantastic row of red-brick buildings, the surface of which was diversified at every possible point by useless little windows, and little arches, and little projections, and little recesses, and little balustrades. These had risen to the level of the second floors, when a change of Government brought in a Minister who believed only in English architecture of the fifteenth century. Under his directions the new buildings were therefore continued in stone, in imitation of the Houses of Parliament, but the work was stopped by his death. His successor, though of course one of the Gothic party, preferred the Gothic architecture of Italy, and the upper parts of the houses were therefore finished in that style. As at that time the reduction of the Budget was urgently needed, it was decided to use painted stucco instead of real marble, as in Italy.