There is an endnote in my book (Oxford World's Classics) that mentions this: "The adventures of George Primrose described in the next chapter would seem to require 'near three years'. This history of the Primrose family since George's departure, however, would appear to have covered a period of less than a year--from spring perhaps until early winter."

One aspect that occurred to me as I'm reading along, is I wonder who Oliver Goldsmith is writing this for, i.e., his intended audience. As PeggyC mentions, the characters seem somewhat unsympathetic, so I'm wondering if this novel, written from a man's point of view, appealed to another set of readers. For example, he pokes an awful lot of fun at philosophers and politicians (I'm only up to chapter 21, so there may be other groups, as well). This sort of satire or sarcasm, combined with family misadventures, might have been an attempt to gain a wider readership (which would equal more book purchasers). My views are not entirely coherent, but I'm starting to get the notion that everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink, might be thrown into this novel.