2622TLN 2622: Fire and brimstone!

Proverbial (Dent BB17). OED records the phrase's first use as a "strong ejaculation" in Twelfth Night (2.5.48). The biblical allusions are especially strong here given the play's fascination with adultery, its anatomizing of fear, doubt, murder, and deceit, and its references to sorcery and non-Christian beliefs: "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone, and fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 19:24); "The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). See also TLN 3579-80 and note.