faces are but a gallery of pictures

"Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Francis Bacon

"Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are"
Soren Kierkegaard

Managed to sneak out of work for 15 min rushed tour of the new portrait gallery - not sure about it. The mustiness used to be charming, but now all the white displays make it feel a little like a characterless corporate display at an conference. I need to give it more time clearly. The main entrance way with it's faux parisian Parthenon frescoes remain (good!) and I like the library section, in particular the plaster cast of Robert the Bruce's skull which modern sculptors have recreated into a living face. Strange to have such a relic stare back.