Article: Webster's 'The White Devil.'.(John Webster's play)

When Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano, wishes to murder his wife Isabella in order to enjoy the charms of Vittoria Corombona, Camillo's wife (Camillo will also die, according to plan, by "accident" when doing gymnastics on a vaulting horse), he has recourse to a "doctor," of whom Flamineo, Brachiano's secretary, says, "[H]e will poison a kiss, and was once pared a deadly vapour in a Spaniard's fart that should have poisoned all Dublin" (2.1.298-303). Upon hearing Flamineo's words, Brachiano exclaims, "O Saint Anthony's fire!" (304).

Of Saint Anthony's fire, Christina Luckyi's note reads: "Saint Anthony's fire or ignis sacer (sacred fire), probably slang ...

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