But instead of their last meal before facing the drop they were consoling themselves with a pint of the black stuff inside Buswell's hotel, which overlooks the Irish parliament.
Not only did he find it exhilarating to respond spontaneously to the colour all around him, he also found it consoling; it helped release the flood of ideas exploding in his head.
It is degrading to live in a venal polity, but the idea of a special national mission or destiny can be consoling.
But there is also wisdom here, and the momentum of a thrilling yarn, delivered as if by a scarred man by the consoling light of a fire.
And Adams wasn't consoling Henry Clay when he gave him the job; he was hoping it would be a step towards the presidency for the Kentuckian.
The list is not comprehensive, but here, in descending order of acceptability, are four different flavours of hahahahah.It would be consoling to think that the most prevalent sort of hahahahah was the most high-minded one, the one that says: "This is a man who behaved dishonourably and was caught out".
One calls the prime minister's draft renegotiation platform "minimalist and virtually irrelevant", while consoling himself with the thought that "the prime minister has always responded to pressure".
Inexperienced liberal parties still have a chance to regain some ground in later rounds, particularly if they forge alliances: Egypt's convoluted election rules actually favour mid-sized parties over the smallest and biggest.Some, however, are consoling themselves in traditional Egyptian fashion, with humour.
Where the Democrat losses stand on the scale of mid-term defeatsAS THE dust settles after the mid-term elections on November 2nd, it will be only mildly consoling to Democrats that they have clung on to the Senate.
That migrating flock visible on the horizon at sunset, once a consoling reminder of the eternal rhythms of nature, could be carrying the virus which might soon kill tens of millions of people.Given the many fingers pointed at governments in the wake of other disasters this year, it is hardly surprising that they are scrambling to respond to the threat posed by avian influenza.
In this context, the report read rather like a young sports champion consoling the veteran whom he has just bested.Even in much of young, vigorous developing Asia the boom seems too precarious for triumphalism.
