How to cure what ails you and secure a husband (1811 edition)

From reading Sense and Sensibility, one can learn many household methods of curing common illnesses.  Some of these *cures include:

• Wine- cures: colicky gout, a disappointed heart
•  Mrs. Jennings asks Elinor to take "some of the finest old Constantia wine... that was ever tasted" to Marianne while she is ill.  
• Elinor replies, "...how good you are! But I have just left Marianne in bed, and, I hope, almost asleep; and as I think nothing will be of so much service to her as rest, if you will give me leave, I will drink the wine myself" (Chapter 30).
• Then... "Elinor, as she swallowed the chief of it, reflected that, though its good effects on a colicky gout were, at present, of little importance to her, its healing powers on a disappointed heart might be as reasonably tried on herself as on her sister" (Chapter 30). 

• Sleep/rest- cures: heartache, violent colds, feverishness, coughing, pain in limbs, sore throat
• Elinor is convinced that Marianne just needs to sleep. "Elinor advised her to lie down again" (Chapter 29).   
• "I shall persuade her if I can to go early to bed, for I am sure she wants rest" (Chapter 30).  

Clearly, Marianne is suffering from heartache in this picture. 

• Upon arriving at Cleveland, Marianne takes several twilight walks in tall, wet grass, and then she sits in her wet shoes and stockings, giving her a cold. "Though heavy and feverish, with a pain in her limbs, and a cough, and a sore throat, a good night's rest was to cure her entirely..." (Chapter 42). 

She brought it upon herself, if you ask me. 

• Lavender drops- cures: heartache, restlessness
• After Marianne reads Willoughby's letter she is beside herself and needs to lie down, but that is not enough. "Some lavender drops, however, which she was at length persuaded to take, were of use; and from that time till Mrs. Jennings returned, she continued on the bed quiet and motionless" (Chapter 29). 
• Read about lavender here.  They even mention that it appears in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  Apparently it really can be used as a sleep aid.  Who knew?

• Cordials/medicines- cures: ????
• Mr. Harris prescribes various "cordials" and "medicines" for Marianne during her illness, though they seem to do nothing other than cause her to "sink at last into a deep slumber," but her "fever was unabated" (Chapter 43). 

Marianne (here in Kate Winslet form) is slumbering, perhaps.

*It should be noted, however, that none of these methods really seemed to do much good for Marianne, and therefore, they should only be administered under the guidance of a practised (yes, I meant to spell it that way) apothecary.  

Austen's characters also give women some helpful hints about how to secure a husband, as evidenced by Mr. John Dashwood in Chapter 33 when he encourages Elinor to pursue Colonel Brandon:

Colonel Brandon, the one to be secured

• "A very little trouble on your side secures him.  Perhaps just at present he may be undecided; the smallness of your fortune may make him hang back; his friends may all advise him against it.  But some of those little attentions and encouragements which ladies can so easily give will fix him, in spite of himself." 
• In other words, "Go for it, Elinor!  Even though you are dirt poor and none of his friends will approve of you, you just go ahead and flirt with him, and he won't be able to resist you despite his better judgment!"

These topics were ones that jumped out at me as I was reading... the various, rudimentary methods used to nurse people back to health were many, though hardly effective.  And the ridiculousness of John Dashwood's remarks concerning Elinor's relationship with Colonel Brandon are not terribly unlike ones that I have heard given as advice to me.  There may be some truth in his comments, but I'm just not sure what those should look like within the context of 21st century Christian pre-dating and dating relationships. 

-Betsy