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Many have let for ninety-nine years; and others, according to a form common in 'Ireland, for three lives, renewable for ever, paying a small fine on the insertion of a new life at the failure of each.

These leases, in course of years, have been found extremely disadvantageous to the landlord, the property having risen so much in value that the original rent was absurdly disproportioned.
'The longest term my father ever gave,' says his daughter Maria, 'was thirty-one years, with one or sometimes two lives.

He usually gave one life, reserving to himself the option of adding another -- the son, perhaps, of the tenant--if he saw that the tenant deserved it by his conduct.