"Out of these two [Authors], have been extracted the Famous Rules, which the French call, _Des trois Unités_, or 'The Three Unities,' which ought to be observed in every _regular_ Play; namely, of TIME, PLACE, and ACTION. "The UNITY OF TIME, they comprehend in Twenty-four hours, _the compass of a natural Day_; or, as near it, as can be contrived. And the reason of it is obvious to every one. That _the Time_ of the feigned Action or Fable of the Play _should be proportioned_, as near as can be, _to the duration of that Time in which it is REPRESENTED_. Since therefore all plays are acted on the Theatre in a space of time _much within_ the compass of Twenty-four hours; that Play is to be thought the _nearest Imitation_ of Nature, whose Plot or Action is confined within that time. "And, by the same Rule which concludes this General Proportion of Time, it follows, _That all the parts of it are to be equally subdivided_. As, namely, that one Act take not up the supposed time of Half a day, which is out of proportion to the rest; since the other four are then to be straitened within the compass of the remaining half: for it is unnatural that one Act which, being spoken or written, is not longer than the rest; should be supposed longer by the audience. 'Tis therefore the Poet's duty to take care _that no Act_ should be imagined to _exceed the Time in which it is Represented on the Stage_; and that the intervals and inequalities of time, be supposed to fall out _between_ the Acts. "This Rule of TIME, how well it has been observed by the Ancients, most of their plays will witness. You see them, in their Tragedies (wherein to follow this Rule is certainly most difficult), from the very beginning of their Plays, falling close into that part of the Story, which they intend for the Action or principal Object of it: leaving the former part to be delivered by Narration. So that they set the audience, as it were, at the post where the race is to be concluded: and, saving them the tedious expectation of seeing the Poet set out and ride the beginning of the course; you behold him not, till he is in sight of the goal, and just upon you.