From Francis Bacon's essay *Of Studies* (1625). Select the word that fits the blank. "Nay, there is no stond or ______ in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body, may have appropriate exercises."

The analogy is the load-bearing clue: *diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises*. So the mind too has its *diseases* — its blocks — and "fit studies" are their remedy. The blank must name something negative in the wit that study can *work out*. "Impediment" (obstacle, blockage) fits exactly, and pairs with *stond* (an older word for a halt or stoppage). - "Ornament" is positive, not something to be cured. - "Faculty" is a capacity of the mind, not a defect. - "Disposition" is neutral character, not an obstruction the way the analogy demands. *Impediment* — from Latin *impedire*, to entangle the feet — is exactly the right metaphor for a blockage that exercise (or study) can remove.