The Inn Parlor darkens, and the people crowding it tense in anticipation. Then he appears. He takes a glowing poker from the fire and bends it with his bare hands, touches it to his tongue and thows it back into the hearth. His mouth opens, and flames shoot forth into the darkness. Joshua Medley, mulatto magician, has performed one of his conjuring feats. And he has burnt his mouth so badly that for a full week he can scarcely eat. He records the mischance in his journal, together with the other events - poignant or hilarious - that make up his fascinating, adventurous life in New England of the 1790s. 236 pp.