EXALTATIONS, "follow their good _exaltations_" (R234,_d_), exhortations.
EXTENT, "at the highest _extent_," etc. (R219,_a_), sale under compulsory powers (M).
EXTREATS, "the scape of extreats" (R183,_d_), _i.e._ estreats, enforced by trick. At law an estreat is an official copy of the specification of fines or penalties (such as a forfeited recognisance for use of the bailiff or sheriff's officer in levying). "A forfeited recognisance," if taken by a justice of the peace, "is certified to the next sessions; and if the condition be broken by any breach of the peace in the one case, or any misbehaviour in the other, the recognisance becomes forfeited or absolute; and being _estreated_ or extracted, taken out from among the other records, and sent up to the Exchequer; the party and his sureties, having now become absolute debtors of the Crown, are sued for the several sums in which they are respectively bound."--Blackstone, _Comment._, bk. iv., ch. 18. See Respublica for authorities dealing with the systems of extortion referred to in these lines.
FAITOUR, "ye are no _faitour_" (M12,_c_), deceiver, imposter: a generic reproach. "There be many of you _faitours_."--Gower, _Confessio Amantis_ (1393), i. 47.
FALL, "_fall_ back, _fall_ edge" (R250,_b_), _i.e._ whichever way it turns out I am prepared (edge = aside or sideways).
FARTHING, "I may not change a man a _farthing_" (M18,_b_), in the least or smallest degree. A farthing, the fourth part of a penny, and the smallest copper coin current in Great Britain, is mentioned as far back as Robert of Gloucester. It seems to have become a simile of small value or amount in most early writers. "In hire suppe was no _ferthing_ sene Of grese, whan she dronken hadde hire drauht."--Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_ (1383), Prologue, 134.
FEATHER, "_feather_ my nest" (R183,_b_); this proverbial saying does not occur in Heywood.
FELL, "the world, the flesh, and the _fell_" (M39,_c_), the devil (Furnivall & Pollard).
FELLOWSHIP, "flee that _fellowship_" (M32,_b_), company, body of associates, confederacy, joint interest. "Parry felle in _felaschepe_ with Willyum Hasard at Querles."--_Paston Letters_, i. 83. "Antenor fleenge with his _felowschippe_."--_Trevisa_, i. 273.