“She’s trapped! Like a badger!” (March 21, 1814)

I first read about man-traps (no, seriously!) in Daniel Pool’s What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew (New York, 1993): “These were like traps for animals except bigger; a substantial one weighed eighty-eight pounds and had teeth one a half inches long that snapped shut on the leg and could do serious damage. [They were] legal until 1827, although they were unable to discriminate between the lawbreaker and the casual stroller.” (p. 174)

In-depth information with illustrations is offered by Andrew Westcott, to whom I am indebted for words like “offset” and “jaws”. He also points out: “Interestingly, in Britain later types of man trap were made with large offsets on toothless jaws to reduce the damage to an entrapped leg, as many of the catches turned out to be innocent people - those out walking or children playing in the woods, and such was the outrage shown by the general public concerning the horrific injuries inflicted by the old style man trap that the design needed to be re-thought.” (Any errors in the description of Mr Manvers’s trap are, of course, entirely my own.)

The trap illustrated here, by courtesy of Andy Westcott, is not in fact a man-trap, but his advice on which image to choose was too good not to follow: “For best gruesome effect I'd suggest […] Image 8 which is a large predator trap, but it is the type most often mistaken for a man trap and displayed as such in several museums.“ (A. W. to E. G., personal communication, 16 March 2021) 

Thanks to Abigail Bok, I discovered that Jane Austen included a man-trap in one of her juvenilia, “Jack and Alice”! The girl caught in it, also called Lucy, is passing a wood in search of her beloved Charles Adam when, she relates:

“I found myself suddenly seized by the leg & on examining the cause of it, found that I was caught in one of the steel traps so common in gentlemen's grounds."

    "Ah! cried Lady Williams, how fortunate we are to meet with you; since we might otherwise perhaps have shared the like misfortune --"

    "It is indeed happy for you, Ladies, that I should have been a short time before you. I screamed, as you may easily imagine, till the woods resounded again & till one of the inhuman Wretch's servants came to my assistance & released me from my dreadfull prison, but not before one of my legs was entirely broken."

    AT this melancholy recital, the fair eyes of Lady Williams were suffused in tears & Alice could not help exclaiming,

     "Oh! cruel Charles, to wound the hearts & legs of all the fair."

     Lady Williams now interposed, & observed that the young Lady's leg ought to be set without farther delay. After examining the fracture, therefore, she immediately began & performed the operation with great skill, which was the more wonderfull on account of her having never performed such a one before. Lucy then arose from the ground, & finding that she could walk with the greatest ease, accompanied them to Lady Williams's House at her Ladyship's particular request.

The full text of “Jack and Alice” is available at The Republic of Pemberley. Abigail Bok has written a charming series of posts about Jane Austen’s juvenilia, including “Jack and Alice”.