The Dublin of the great period, however, still lingered in the mind of Le Fanu, as well it might since he lived for many years in Merrion Square, one of the most unspoiled areas in the city. Le Fanu was born into an old and ennobled Huguenot family; his paternal grandmother was the sister of the dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He passed the early years of his life at the Royal Hibernian Military School in Phoenix Park, Dublin, where his father was chaplain. When Joseph was twelve years old, his father was created dean of Emly, and the family moved to Abington, a house six miles outside Dublin. Here his schooling was in the capable hands of his father until he entered Trinity College in 1833, where he achieved a great reputation as a debater and member of the Historical Society. In 1839 he was called to the Irish bar but never practiced; by this time he had become involved in journalism, and the main course of his life was set.
The Dublin University Magazine, whose field was clearly established by its subtitle, A Literary and Political Journal, was a periodical with which Le Fanu was very closely associated--as a member of the staff from 1837, then as a very frequent contributor, and finally as editor and proprietor from 1869 until within a year of his death.
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