Jonathan Swift died on 19 October 1745, aged 78. He hadn't been in a good frame of mind for some time. He managed to keep some of his sense of humor, though--his last will and testament provided funds to establish somewhere around Dublin a hospital for "ideots & lunaticks" because "No Nation wanted [needed] it so much."
But before that, he had quite the interesting perspective on the "big-endians" versus the "small-endians."
I guess we could shove the entire IRA into a mental hospital!!