Ladies, scandal at court? The recipient of unrequited love? There is only one way for a true lady to deal with such ghastly matters - faint. Do ensure you have a fainting couch handy, the floorboards do tend to splinter....

A fainting couch is a backless couch with typically one end raised to recline upon. Though couches like this might have been made prior to the 19th century, the fainting couch wasn’t commonly referred to as such until the 19th century. The fainting couch was made for women, especially since so many women in the 1800s wore corsets. Corsets kept a woman breathless, making it much more likely she would faint. Some homes, and hotels even had fainting rooms, where women could catch their breath on a fainting couch.

credit: Thank you to Paladin722 for modelling