From Francis Bacon's essay *Of Adversity* (1625). Select the word that fits the blank. "Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most ______ when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue."
Adelicate
Bfleeting
Cfragrant
Dwholesome
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. fragrant
The blank modifies *odors*. Bacon is making a sense-perception analogy — incense and crushed petals release their **smell** most strongly when pressed. "Fragrant" is the precise word for *strongly scented*, and it makes the analogy with virtue (most revealed in hardship) work.
- "Delicate" softens the claim; Bacon wants intensity ("most ______"), not subtlety.
- "Fleeting" goes the wrong way — fragrance is *released*, not lost, when crushed.
- "Wholesome" describes moral cleanness, not olfactory strength.
Note also the older verb *incensed* here means *kindled* or *burned* (as one burns incense), not *angered* — a useful GRE-era second meaning.
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