We are not without traces of its existence in other compounds. Thus our ‘Marshalls’ were originally ‘marechals;’ that is, ‘mare-schalks,’ the early name for a horse-groom or blacksmith. The Marshall, however, was early turned into an indoor office, and seems to have been busied enough in ordering the position of guests in the hall, a very punctilious affair in those days. The ‘Boke of Curtasye’ says:— In halle marshalle alle men schalle sett, After their degre, withouten lett. Our ‘Gateschales,’ a name now altogether obsolete, were the more simple porter, while our ‘Gottschalks,’ a surname more frequently hailing from Germany, but once common with ourselves as a Christian name, denote simply ‘God’s servant.’ But we are wandering. Let us come back to the dinner-table. Such sobriquets as ‘Ralph le Suur’[205] or ‘John le Sewer’ remind us of the _sewer_—he who brought in the viands.[206] A _sewe_, from the old French sevre, to follow, was any cooked dish, and thus is simply equivalent to our _course_. Chaucer, in describing the rich feasts of Cambuscan, King of Tartary, says the time would fail him to tell— Of their strange sewes. I believe the Queen’s household still boasts its four gentlemen sewers. As a surname, too, the word is still common. A curious custom presents itself to our remembrance in our ‘Says,’ who, when not of the ‘de Says’ (‘Hugh de Say,’ A.), are but descendants of the ‘le Says’ (‘John le Say,’ M.) of the Hundred Rolls. An ‘assay’ or ‘say’ was he who assayed or tasted the messes as they were set one by one before the baron, to guard against his being accidentally or purposely poisoned. An old poem uses the fuller form, where it says— Thine assayer schalle be an hownde, To assaye thy mete before thee. In the ‘Boke of Curtasye,’ too, we are told to what ranks this privilege belonged— No mete for man schalle sayed be, But for kynge, or prynce, or duke so fre.[207] Another term for the same made its mark upon our nomenclature as ‘Gustur’ (‘Robert le Gustur,’ T.) To _gust_ was thus used till Shakespeare’s day, and we still speak of ‘_gusto_’ as equivalent to _relish_.