Englishman John Evelyn recorded his account of a performance given by a 17th century fire handler named richardson. The details John includes suggest that Richardson was no run of the mill con-artist and indeed the audience may have witnessed nothing short of a miracle. From the diary of John Evelyn:

F I R E - n. The chemical reaction of burning, which releases heat and light. B U R N - v. To be destroyed by fire.

Oct. 8, 1672. I tooke leave of my Lady Sunderland, who was going to Paris to My Lord, now ambassador there. She made me stay dinner at Leicester House, and afterwards sent for Richardson the famous fire-eater. He devoured brimston [sulfur] on glowing coales before us, chewing and swallowing them; he mealted a beare-glasse [beer glass] and eate it quite up; then taking a live coale on his tongue, he put it on a raw oyster, the coal was blown on with bellows till it flames and sparkled in his mouth, and so remained until the oyster gaped and was quite boiled; then he melted pitch and wax with sulphur, which he drank downe as it flamed; I saw it flaming in his mouth a good while... then he stood on a small pot, and bending his body, took a glowing yron with his mouth from between his feete, without touching th pot or ground with his hands; with divers other prodigious feates.