From Francis Bacon's essay *Of Adversity* (1625). Select the word that fits the blank. "We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work, upon a sad and ______ ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work, upon a lightsome ground."

The blank is paired with *sad* (by *and*), and is then contrasted with the alternative *lightsome ground* in the second clause. So the missing word must reinforce *sad* — it must name a dark/sober quality of background. "Solemn" — grave, sober, dignified — pairs with *sad* in exactly the doubling Bacon uses elsewhere (cf. "false and perfidious" in *Of Truth*). It is also the natural antonym of *lightsome*. - "Brilliant" and "variegated" describe lively, eye-catching grounds — the wrong half of Bacon's contrast. - "Delicate" misses the gravity Bacon wants; a delicate ground would not provide the visual weight that makes the *lively work* stand out. Note that *solemn* in 1625 carried more of its religious-and-stately sense than the modern "serious-faced" reading.