Because the inundation of the Nile happened during the progress of the
sun in Leo, the ancients caused the water of their fountains to issue
from the mouth of a lion’s head, sculptured in stone. The circumstance
is pleasant to notice at this season; a few remarks will be made on
fountains by-and-bye.
The _Lion’s Head_, at Button’s coffee-house, is well remembered in
literary annals. It was a carving with an orifice at the mouth, through
which communications for the “Guardian” were thrown. Button had been a
servant in the countess of Warwick’s family, and by the patronage of
Addison, kept a coffee-house on the south side of Russell-street, about
two doors from Covent-garden, where the wits of that day used to
assemble. Addison studied all the morning, dined at a tavern, and
afterwards went to Button’s. “The Lion’s Head” was inscribed with two
lines from Martial:--
Cervantur magnis isti Cervicibus ungues:
Non nisi delectâ pascitur ille fera.