Jonathan Swift, the renowned Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, passed away on 19 October 1745, at the age of nearly 78. His body was laid out in public view in Dublin for citizens to pay their last respects. In accordance with his wishes, he was interred in St Patrick's Cathedral, by the side of Esther Johnson. Swift's own epitaph, translated by W.B. Yeats, reads: "Swift has sailed into his rest; Savage indignation there Cannot lacerate his breast. Imitate him if you dare, World-besotted traveller; he Served human liberty." The bulk of his fortune, £12,000, was bequeathed to establish a hospital for the mentally ill, which opened in 1757 as St Patrick's Hospital for Imbeciles and continues to operate as a psychiatric hospital.
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