Why bastard? Wherefore base?

[T]he magnificence of his compliment had quite shaken the general's [Ulysses S. Grant's] modesty, and that he could only say that France must come to the perihelion of her glory under such rulers as Grevy [i.e., Jules Grévy].

Put that light out!

After the Black Death many villeins, viewing enviously the high wages earned by those no longer bound to render predial services, began to think that the conditions in which they were placed were no longer generally fair.