Caught in a heavy thunderstorm one day, Jonathan Swift took shelter under a large tree. He was soon joined by a beefy man and a pregnant woman en route to town to be married. As the woman was on the verge of giving birth, Swift kindly offered to marry them on the spot.

Having performed the impromptu ceremony, Swift was reminded by the new husband that a certificate would be required to validate the marriage. Swift obliged with the following bit of doggerel verse:

Under an oak, in stormy weather,
I joined this rogue and whore together;
And none but he who rules the thunder
Can put this rogue and whore asunder.

[In 2001, a couple from New York got married on the wreck of the Titanic, kneeling in a submersible on the ship's deck.]