of that noble
lady; for Ganymede assumed the forward manners often seen in youths when
they are between boys and men, and with much archness and humour talked
to Orlando of a certain lover, "who," said he, "haunts our forest, and
spoils our young trees with carving Rosalind upon their barks; and he
hangs odes upon hawthorns, and elegies on brambles, all praising this
same Rosalind. If I could find this lover, I would give him some good
counsel that would soon cure him of his love."

Orlando confessed that he was the fond lover of whom he spoke, and asked
Ganymede to give him the good counsel he talked of. The remedy Ganymede
proposed, and the counsel he gave him, was that Orlando should come
every day to the cottage where he and his sister Aliena dwelt: "And
then," said Ganymede, "I will feign myself to be Rosalind, and you shall
feign to court me in the same manner as you would do if I was Rosalind,
and then I will imitate the fantastic ways of whimsical ladies to their
lovers, till I make you ashamed of your love; and this is the way I
propose to cure you." Orlando had no great faith in the remedy, yet he
agreed to come every day to Ganymede's cottage, and feign a playful
courtship; and every day Orlando visited Ganymede and Aliena, and
Orlando called the shepherd Ganymede his Rosalind, and every day talked
over all the fine words and flattering compliments which young men
delight to use when they court their mistresses. It does not appear,
however, that Ganymede made any progress in curing Orlando of his love
for Rosalind.

Though Orlando thought all this was but a sportive play (not dreaming
that Ganymede was his very Rosalind), yet the opportunity it gave him of
saying all the fond things he had in his heart, pleased his fancy almost
as well as it did Ganymede's, who enjoyed the secret jest in knowing
these fine love-speeches were all addressed to the right person.

In this manner many days passed pleasantly on with these young people;
and the good-natured Aliena, seeing it made Ganymede happy, let him have
his own way, and was diverted at the mock-courtship, and did not care to
remind Ganymede that the Lady Rosalind had not yet made herself known
to the duke her father, whose place of resort in the forest they had
learnt from Orlando. Ganymede met the duke one day, and had some talk
with him, and the duke asked of what parentage he came. Ganymede
answered that he came of as good parentage as he did, which made t