British Portraits and English Cheese

A Proper Good Morning to You,

I started out the day with a trip to the cash machine where I was thrilled to receive a couple of the new ten pound notes with Miss Jane Austen on them!  Then I went to the grocery store to replenish my supply of cidre and other items.  The sky spat at me a little, but it wasn't bad or too cold.
I then strolled down in a leisurely fashion to the National Portrait Gallery to visit a lot of old historical friends.  I think most people walk through and appreciate the portraits without knowing who the people are.  I can't claim to know all of them.  Many I recognize without having to read the labels, but not all.
The portraits are in more or less chronological order from the top of the museum, so that's where I started with the Tudors.  I know ALL of them and their courtiers. I passed on to the Stuarts whom I know well, but I did not recognize all the courtiers, officials and artists of the later Stuart Period and that is true of the Georgians and Victorians as well.
The quality of the painting is uneven. I would say the quality of the sitters is uneven as well.  Some of the works are brilliantly evocative and the personalities just pop off the canvas.  And then one has the well meaning but crude sketch that Cassandra Austen made of her younger sister, Jane, which is the only authenticated contemporary image of her, and I have no confidence in the portrait claimed by Paula Byrne to be the adult Jane.  So Cassandra's is it.  The ten pound note portrait is a reproduction of an engraving much gussied up of Cassandra's sketch.
The hanging of the works is meaningful, too.  For example Robert, Earl of Burlington looks across the room to his collaborator on Chiswick House, William Kent.  William Gilbert is next to Arthur Sullivan.  Usually Whigs and Torys are kept separated.
Most of the portraits are of male politicians (although you can also find Mrs. Thatcher) and some of the men are surprisingly handsome. I still think Michael Faraday the scientist is hot, and his colleague Humphrey Davy is, too.  Prominent writers, artists, and actors are also featured.
I like the portrait paintings very well, but I appreciate the portrait busts more as I think the three D image gives a better idea of what the person actually looked like.
Admission to the National Portrait Gallery is free although they ask for a donation, but I also bought a ticket to a special exhibition of drawings, which was amazing.  Would you like to see sketches by Leonardo and Michelangelo?  Durer?  Rembrandt?  A host of others--all fascinating.
I walked back via Covent Garden.  It's just a fun place to prowl around and lick windows.  There are museums and other touristy things there, but I've been to the London Transport Museum a zillion times.
I did just happen by Neal's Yard Dairy, and I just did happen to come away with more cheddar cheese.  I am insulting my French cheese and butter by having them on English water crackers, so I can save the bread for breakfast.  That's so American of me.  But the cheese and butter are just as good. The cheddar is just lovely with the cidre.  It's so English.  Cheddar and cidre are both from Somerset, so they go together perfectly.
Cherrio!