Free SAT Practice Question

The following text is adapted from Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. Elinor Dashwood and her sister Marianne are discussing their differing views on emotional restraint.

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother. She had an excellent heart; her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong—but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn.

As used in the passage, what does the word "govern" most nearly mean?