“Ah! A German and a genius! A prodigy—admit him!”
These were the deathbed words uttered by the author and cleric, most well known for writing Gulliver’s Travels, he was referring to composer George Frideric Handel who had come to visit him. Jonathan Swift passed away at the age of 77 from terminal dementia in his hometown of Dublin, leaving behind the bulk of his fortune to found a hospital for the mentally ill which still exists today.