After Jacques exits (at line 269), Rosalind approaches Orlando. Still disguised as the male Ganymede, Rosalind wants to test the sincerity of Orlando’s love. She thinks that the hanging of love verses on trees is silly, and she doubts the earnestness of Orlando’s feelings for her.
Rosalind begins innocently enough by asking Orlando the time. Orlando responds that there are no clocks in the forest, and so he cannot give her the exact time of day. Rosalind then declares that Orlando cannot be a “true lover” (277) because a true lover counts every minute and every hour with his sighs and groans. When Orlando questions Rosalind about the movement of time, Rosalind responds that time moves at different speeds depending upon the occasion. Rosalind then wittily compares time to a horse that moves at different speeds depending upon the situation, and then explains that time has four speeds: it gallops, trots, ambles, and stands still.
GALLOPS: Time gallops (moves too quickly) with the thief who is about to be hanged on the gallows, for the time of execution comes much too soon.
TROTS: Times trots (moves somewhat slowly) for a maid who has just become engaged and is waiting for the day of her marriage. In her mind the wedding day comes much too slowly.