Put those claws away!

[Rimbaud]

On Bulwer Lytton, and further on Thenamir's point, the line unfortunately did not even have the grace to end there.

The unexpurgated version is thus:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

There are one or two amongst us with a tenuous grasp of syntax and many more prone to a somewhat wordy style, but even they must here be shamed...

[ August 19, 2003: Message edited by: Rimbaud ]