Meantime there came a shower, which so besprinkled the grass and shrubbery as to make it rather wet for our after-tea ramble. – Nathaniel Hawthorne, journal, 1842 August 15th

It was one of those hot, silent nights, when people sit at windows, listening for the thunder which they know will shortly break; when they recall dismal tales of hurricanes and earthquakes; and of lonely travellers on open plains, and lonely ships at sea, struck by lightning. – Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, Chapter XLII