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Lobola (Bridewealth)
in Contemporary
Southern Africa
Implications for Gender Equality

Edited by
Lovemore Togarasei · Ezra Chitando
Lobola (Bridewealth) in Contemporary
Southern Africa
Lovemore Togarasei • Ezra Chitando
Editors

Lobola (Bridewealth)
in Contemporary
Southern Africa
Implications for Gender Equality
Editors
Lovemore Togarasei Ezra Chitando
Department of Theology and Department of Religious Studies,
Religious Studies Classics and Philosophy
University of Botswana University of Zimbabwe
Gaborone, Botswana Harare, Zimbabwe

ISBN 978-3-030-59522-7    ISBN 978-3-030-59523-4 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59523-4

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
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known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
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­publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
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­institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the participants of the Association of Theological

Institutions in Southern and Central Africa (ATISCA) conference held in
Harare in July 2016 who debated gender issues in Southern Africa with
passion and clarity. They prompted us to consider the production of a
book that addresses gender implications of the practice of lobola in
the region.

v
 Contents

1 Introduction  1
Lovemore Togarasei and Ezra Chitando

Part I History and Background of Lobola  11

2 No to Bride Price/Bride Wealth, Yes to Roora:

Investigating the Meaning, Function and Purpose of
Roora as a Ritual 13
Nisbert Taisekwa Taringa and Godfrey Museka

3 Roora/Lobola Language, Meaning and Function: A

Keystone of Shona Culture 29
Francis Matambirofa

4 Bride Wealth in Southern Africa: Origin, Functions,

Rights, and Gender-Based Violence 45
John Chitakure

Part II Lobola in Sacred Texts and Literature  63

5 The Bible in the Lobola Debate 65

Lovemore Togarasei

vii
viii Contents

6 The Jewish and Shona Perspectives of Bride Wealth in

Light of Calls for Roora Abolition 79
Francis Machingura and Liveson Tatira

7 The Biblical and Cultural Bases for Lobola in Light of

Calls for Lobola Abolition in the African Context 95
Eliot Tofa

8 Disempowerment of Men by Men? A Comparative

Analysis of Lobola and Mahr Impact on Non-hegemonic
Masculinities in Zimbabwe109
Edmore Dube

9 Roora (Bride Price) and Femininity of Entrapment in

ChiShona Literature129
Beatrice Taringa

10 “Jojina,” “Marujata” and “Chihera”: Celebrating

Women’s Agency in the Debate on Roora in Shona Culture147
Ezra Chitando

Part III Lobola Practices in Some Southern African

Communities 165

11 Bogadi Practice and the Place of Women in the Botswana

Society167
Fidelis Nkomazana

12 Mutation of Lobola and “Othering” of Women in Ndebele

Culture185
Sambulo Ndlovu

13 African Culture and Modernity: A Critical Review of

the Vhavenḓa Lumalo Practice in Zimbabwe201
Silibaziso Mulea
 Contents  ix

14 A Critical Assessment of Lobola Marriage Practices in

Malawi: Mzimba Case Study217
Mastone L. K. Mbewe

15 Ndzovolo Practices Among Vatsonga in Zimbabwe and

Their Implications on Gender231
Steyn Khesani Madlome

16 Gender Implications of the Metaphorical Use of Mapere

(Hyenas) in Some Roora Practices Among the Shona
People in Zimbabwe247
Benard Pindukai Humbe and Excellent Chireshe

17 Commercialisation of Marriage Rites and

Commodification of Women in Contemporary Times:
The Discourse of Lobola in the Public Sphere in Zambia263
Nelly Mwale and Joseph Chita

18 Intersection of Lobola, Intimate Partner Violence and

Love Among Karanga Christians in Chivi District,
Zimbabwe283
Excellent Chireshe

19 Creating Alternatives to the Commercialisation of Magadi

Among Bapedi People in South Africa303
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

Part IV Philosophical and Theological Reflections on the

Practice of Lobola 315

20 An Enquiry into the Value of Human Life: The Lobola

Perspective317
Clive Tendai Zimunya and Chipo Hatendi

21 Contextual African Theological Interpretation of Ilobola

as a Gender Issue in the Era of Globalisation329
Moji Ruele
x Contents

22 Lobola and Gender Equality: A Theological Hermeneutic

Approach343
Blazio Manobo

23 Our Debt to Our Parents: Perspectives on Lobola in the

Shona Culture361
Clive Tendai Zimunya

Index375
 Notes on Contributors

Excellent Chireshe is Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Great Zimbabwe
University, and a research fellow at the University of the Free State. She
holds a doctorate in Religious Studies, with a focus on gender-based vio-
lence. Her research interests include religion and gender, religion and eth-
ics and sociology of religion. She has a considerable number of publications
in reputable outlets, mostly on religion and gender.
Joseph Chita is a Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at the
University of Zambia.
John Chitakure is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at The
Mexican American Catholic College, and Adjunct Professor of the
Religious Quest at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio,
Texas. He is the author of, among others, Things That My Father Forgot to
Tell Me (2019).
Ezra Chitando is Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion
at the University of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa Regional Coordinator
of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy, World
Council of Churches. His research interests include religion and gen-
der, sexuality, health, politics, development and security.
Edmore Dube holds a PhD in Christian-Muslim Dialogue from the
University of Zimbabwe. He has also published on post-Conciliar mar-
riage in Africa (2015). His recent publication on the Bible and gender in

xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Africa interrogates how modern trends of viewing marriage have given rise
to perceptions of marriage as a perpetual burden on the woman (2019).
Chipo Hatendi is Lecturer of Philosophy in the Department of Religious
Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe and a
PhD candidate in Applied Ethics at the University of Zimbabwe. Her
research interests lie in applied ethics, reproductive ethics, logic and
philosophy of education. She has published articles in applied ethics,
reproductive ethics and philosophy of education.
Benard Pindukai Humbe is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy
and Religious Studies at Great Zimbabwe University and a PhD candidate
with the University of Free State, South Africa. His areas of research inter-
est include symbolism of animals in African Indigenous religion, onomas-
tics, traditional law and social development, religion and entrepreneurship,
religion and social transformation, and religion and power.
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle is Associate Professor of Missiology at the
University of South Africa and a visiting scholar at the Centre for
Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, University of Birmingham
(2020–2021). He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) Y Rated
researcher (2019–2024) in the area of African Pentecostalism. He has
published several peer-reviewed articles in various high-impact journals
and a book, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave in South Africa: A Critical
Engagement (2019).
Francis Machingura is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies in the
Curriculum and Arts Education Department at the University of
Zimbabwe. His areas of special interest are interaction of the Bible and
gender, Bible and politics, Bible and health, Bible and inclusivity, Bible
and sexuality, Music and Pentecostal Christianity in Africa. He has pub-
lished books, several articles and book chapters.
Steyn Khesani Madlome is Lecturer in the African Languages and
Culture Department at Great Zimbabwe University. He holds a PhD
degree in Xitsonga and a Masters of Arts in Xitsonga from the University
of Venda (RSA). His areas of research are culture, translation studies,
Indigenous knowledge systems, sociolinguistics, African studies and inter-
disciplinary research.
Blazio Manobo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Systematic
Theology of the Catholic University of Zimbabwe and a PhD candidate at
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xiii

the University of KwaZulu Natal. He has published several articles in the-

ology and development including two books. His research interest is in
black theology, theology and development, practical theology, and politi-
cal theology.
Francis Matambirofa is an associate professor in the Department of
African Languages and Literature at the University of Zimbabwe.
Mastone L. K. Mbewe teaches in the Department of Theology and
Religious Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.
Silibaziso Mulea is Lecturer in African Languages and Culture
Department at Great Zimbabwe University and a PhD candidate with the
University of South Africa. Her area of research includes Indigenous
knowledge systems, culture, orature and African languages literature.
Godfrey Museka is Lecturer in Content and Pedagogical courses in
Religion and Ethics in the Department of Curriculum and Arts Education,
University of Zimbabwe. His recent publication is an article titled Towards
the Implementation of a Multifaith Approach in Religious Education: A
Phenomenological Guide (2019).
Nelly Mwale is a special research fellow and lecturer in the Department
of Religious Studies in Zambia, University of Zambia.
Sambulo Ndlovu is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Culture in the
Department of African Languages and Culture at Great Zimbabwe
University.
Fidelis Nkomazana is Associate Professor of Church History and Head
of Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of
Botswana. He has widely researched and published on church history,
women and other related aspects. His research focus is on Pentecostalism.
He has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, chapters in
books and attended several international conferences.
Moji Ruele is a senior lecturer in the Department of Theology and
Religious Studies, University of Botswana. He has research interest in con-
textual theology.
Beatrice Taringa is Coordinator & Lecturer in Research Methods and
Indigenous Languages, Department of Professional Studies and
Contemporary Subjects at Belvedere Technical Teachers College,
Zimbabwe.
xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Nisbert Taisekwa Taringa (late) was the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of
Arts and an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies,
Classics and Philosophy, University of Zimbabwe. His vast research inter-
ests and publications included African traditional religions, African inde-
pendent churches, the environment, method and theory in the study of
religions, human rights and gender.
Liveson Tatira holds a PhD in Literature (Shona) and a PhD in Arts
(Onomastics). He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum
and Arts Education at the University of Zimbabwe. He has published in
literature, folklore, Indigenous knowledge, Onomastics, education and
linguistics. He is also a published Shona poet.
Eliot Tofa is a senior lecturer in the Department of Theology and
Religious Studies at the University of Eswatini and a research associate at
the University of Pretoria. His research interests are in biblical sciences
with special focus on the appropriation of the Bible in the pub-
lic sphere.
Lovemore Togarasei is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies in the
Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of
Botswana. He has research interests in leadership, health and the Bible and
African Christianity especially in its Pentecostal manifestations.
Clive Tendai Zimunya is Lecturer in Philosophy in the Department of
Philosophy at the National University of Lesotho. His research interests
include African philosophy, logic, epistemology, philosophy of religion
and ethics.
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Lovemore Togarasei and Ezra Chitando

Marriage payments are common practice among human beings. Most

societies have at some point practised some form of payments at the time
of marriage. The payments come in two main forms: as transfers from the
family of the bride to the family of the groom in which case they are called
“dowry,” or as transfers from the family of the groom to that of the bride
in which case they are called “bride price” or “bride wealth” (Goody
1973, Anderson 2007). In the context of the Southern African region that
this book is focusing on, the dominant practice is bride price/wealth. This
practice is known by different indigenous terms among the various ethnic
groups and languages of Southern Africa: lobola in Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi,
Silozi and Ndebele; magadi in Setswana and Sotho; roora in Shona; lovola
in Xitsonga and many others. Lobola is, however, the most widely used
term in literature on marriage payments in Southern Africa. We have
adopted it in the title of this book, though it remains contested.

L. Togarasei (*)
Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Botswana,
Gaborone, Botswana
E. Chitando
Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy, University of
Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2021
L. Togarasei, E. Chitando (eds.), Lobola (Bridewealth) in
Contemporary Southern Africa,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59523-4_1
2 L. TOGARASEI AND E. CHITANDO

Goods for the payment of lobola have varied over time. However, for a
long time, cattle have remained central to lobola that Nsereko (1975: 687)
cites the Sukuma Declaration of Customary Law which defines bride
wealth as “cattle or other property handed over by a prospective bride-
groom to the father or other male relative of a girl whom he intends to
marry.” Citing the different indigenous terms by which the practice is
known in most Southern African languages, Hadithi.Africa (2019) also
highlights that cattle are central to the payment of lobola. Today, in some
instances, other modern gadgets such as mobile phones and cars and other
household goods can be requested by the bride’s family over and above
huge sums of money. But even in such cases, cattle remain the most impor-
tant items of exchange, with other charges based on the cost of cattle. A
number of chapters in this book describe how the process of payment of
lobola is conducted in different ethnic groups. The process also varies from
family to family but generally what happens is that, when a man and a
woman decide to get married, the groom asks the bride for a name of
person who is close to her family who can act as the marriage intermediary
(go-between) in the marriage negotiations.1 Once identified, the family of
the groom approaches him/her to go and inform the bride’s family of
their intentions to marry. In contemporary times, monetary transactions
begin as early as this stage. The intermediary introduces her/himself with
some money (some introductory fee) to be given to the bride’s family. If
the bride’s family accepts this marriage proposal, a date for the lobola
negotiations, including payment, is set with the list of lobola required by
the bride’s family given to the groom’s family (see, e.g., such a list in
Chap. 11 by Ndlovu in this volume). Traditionally, between 10 and 15
head of cattle could be charged over and above other gifts/money paid to
the groom’s aunts, sisters and other close relatives. Estimating the cost of
a cow at an average of US$400, today, a young man who wants to marry
should be prepared to pay as much as US$30,000 as lobola, with variations
from one family to the other and sometimes depending on the bride’s
level of education and/or the amount of money she earns if she is
employed. Whereas traditionally the whole family contributed somehow

1
What we describe as the process here fits the Zimbabwe Shona lobola process that we are
most familiar with. See also L. Janhi (1970: 33–41), who describes the Shona marriage pro-
cess. We acknowledge that there are many different processes in Southern Africa. In some
societies such as in Botswana, the process may be as long enough as to be finally concluded
by one’s grandchildren (Solway 2017: 311).
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

to raising the lobola, today, it is often left to the groom himself to raise this
amount. Add to this the cost of a “white” wedding, a couple may need as
much as US$70,000–100,000 before they begin their married life. In a
study in Botswana, van Dijk (2017: 34) established that the whole mar-
riage process could cost from as much as US$12,000.
Although having a long tradition, of late there have been critical voices
questioning the relevance of lobola in contemporary times. This happens
in the midst of many others voices that vehemently continue to support
the practice. We will begin with the problems raised by those who are call-
ing for the revision or even abolition of the practice.

Challenging an Old Practice: Critiques of Lobola

A number of problems have been linked to the practice of lobola. First is
the commercialisation of the practice that is making many young men
unable to afford marriages. Above, we estimated that the new couple may
need as much as US$100,000 for lobola and other wedding costs. In 2016,
a South Africa wedding planning organisation put the average cost of a
wedding at between R70,000 and R80,000 (US$4400–5000) depending
on the number of people invited, the location of the wedding and other
variables (Businesstech 2016). This figure did not include the cost of
lobola which also runs into thousands of dollars. As correctly observed by
a number of scholars, marriage (especially where it involves the white wed-
ding) has lost its traditional role of a rite of passage to become “a con-
spicuous celebration of middle-class lifestyles and celebrations” (Pauli and
van Dijk 2017: 259).
Given the high rates of unemployment in the region, most young men
cannot afford the costs of marriage. This has resulted in low rates of mar-
riages and increasing rates of co-habitation, a practice shunned by conser-
vatives who see it as weakening the family institution. In Botswana, for
example, the 2011 national census indicated that only 17.9% and 18.9% of
women and men respectively said they were married. Although this low
rate of marriage can be attributed to many factors, high lobola costs,
together with accompanying high wedding costs, rank high among them.
Studying the changes in the practice of lobola in Botswana, Solway (2017)
identified payment of lobola as contributing to declining rates of mar-
riages, causing rising levels of cohabitation as young men are not able to
raise such amounts. The same trend has been noted in South Africa
(Hunter 2010) and other Southern African nations (Ndagurwa et al. 2015).
4 L. TOGARASEI AND E. CHITANDO

Second, gender activists observe that lobola practices privilege men, giv-
ing them power and authority, while commoditising women and making
them powerless. For example, Matope et al. (2013: 192), after studying
perceptions of married adults in Gweru, Zimbabwe, on lobola and gender-­
based violence concluded that “men use it to oppress, exploit and domi-
nate women.” Nkosi (2011) also reached the same conclusion in a study
of black students’ perceptions of the role of lobola in gender power rela-
tionships in South Africa. These gender activists are also speaking against
the practice and in some cases even calling for its abolition. Thus, the
adoption and deployment of the human rights framework in the region
has led some gender activists to question the relevance of lobola. They
note that, lobola is a gendered construct that constrain men financially as
well as strip women of their human rights (Matope et al. 2013).
Third, noting that men’s privileged status often comes from their eco-
nomic advantage over women, the changing financial status of some
women is complicating the traditional gender order. As calls for gender
equality become louder and affirmative policies are being instituted across
the region, a significant number of women is getting power and influence.
This has further complicated the traditional lobola practice. It has seen
some women “paying for their own lobola” in cases where they get mar-
ried to men who cannot afford to pay the lobola on their own. This is
because the traditional practice where family members (particularly the
father) contributed to the payment of the lobola is waning. This calls for a
re-conceptualisation of lobola as the reality of women mobilising resources
for their own lobola goes against the traditional understanding and mean-
ing of the practice.
Fourth, and related to the first three, is the association of this practice
with gender-based violence (particularly intimate partner violence). In
their study we referred to above, Matope et al. (2013: 194) established
that 80% of their respondents believed that lobola exacerbates gender-­
based violence. This is because men who have paid lobola expect their
wives to show them the kind of loyalty and submission that traditional
women gave to their husbands. However, because of their own financial
and social empowerment, their wives are no longer ready to offer it.
It is because of these developments in the institution of marriage that a
number of scholars have of late been developing interest in the study of
marriage in the region. Despite earlier descriptions of marriage practices in
Southern Africa by anthropologists and missionaries, there have been
recent anthropological studies (see, e.g., a 2017 double special issue of
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

Anthropology Southern Africa with articles on “Continuity and Change in

Southern African Marriages” edited by Julia Pauli and Rijk van Dijk) and
many other publications on the subject. The interest on marriage and
marriage practices is, indeed, understandable given the fact that tradition-
ally marriage defined families and that the family is the basic social unit.
There are, however, currently few works focusing on the gender implica-
tions of lobola, especially in light of the quest for gender equity in the
region. Isolated studies touch on different aspects of the traditional prac-
tice. There is, therefore, need for work that gives a collection of the differ-
ent views people hold on the practice of lobola. Reasons for and against
lobola in the context of the changing social and economic order of
Southern Africa have not been given due attention.

Chapters of the Book

Building on works that have been published on this subject, this book,
therefore, focuses on the gender implications of lobola by bringing together
25 essays by scholars from different academic disciplines, national con-
texts, institutions, genders and ethnic backgrounds to debate the relevance
of lobola in contemporary Southern African communities for gender
equity. As the region drives towards gender equity (e.g., in pursuit of
Sustainable Development Goal number 5, “Gender Equality”), it is
important to have a fresh look at the practice, and raise and debate issues
that surround it. This is because the region, for a long time, has been asso-
ciated with the marginalisation of women. P. Theron (2015: 53) captures
this when she writes “African women do not have the same rights, respon-
sibilities and opportunities as men.” Lobola is often fingered as promoting
this inequality despite the contention that God created men and women
with equal dignity according to Christian teaching (Matsveru and Gillham
2015: 33–52). Christianity is a major factor in the contemporary con-
struction of gender in the region. Thus, the book contains chapters that
provide a closer look at the practice from different perspectives: history,
culture, religion, philosophy, gender and so on. Written by scholars from
several Southern African countries and others in Diaspora, the chapters
draw case studies from different societies. The book, therefore, provides a
one-stop shop for a gendered understanding of the practice of lobola in
Southern Africa, and the issues and the debates surrounding this practice
in societies that are striving for gender equity and experiencing social and
economic changes. In this regard, the volume breaks new ground by
6 L. TOGARASEI AND E. CHITANDO

providing honest and fresh debates on lobola in the context of reflections

and practices on gender in Southern Africa. Contributors to the volume
adopt robust approaches on either side of the divide, or adopt the middle
path, demonstrating intellectual rigour. The sharply divided outlook of
the volume, as well as internal diversity in terms of the ethnic groups cov-
ered (even within the same country), opens up space for deeply engaged
and ongoing reflections on this key theme.
After opening up with an introduction (Chap. 1) by Lovemore
Togarasei and Ezra Chitando, the book is divided into four parts. Part I
comprises three chapters that discuss the history and background of the
practice of lobola. In Chap. 2, Nisbert T. Taringa and Godfrey Museka
observe the dearth of literature on lobola as a ritual. Approaching lobola
from a ritual studies perspective, the chapter fills this gap by utilising ritual
as an analytical category in unpacking the meaning, function and purpose
of the roora as a religio-cultural practice among the Shona people of
Zimbabwe. In Chap. 3, Francis Matambirofa rebuts the call for the aboli-
tion of the Shona marriage system whose centre piece is the custom of
roora/lobola, purportedly as a strategy to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS
and domestic violence. Matambirofa does this by giving evidence to the
effect that some Shona women across the social spectrum want roora to be
maintained as part of Shona cultural heritage and identity. In Chap. 4,
John Chitakure explores the origin, functions, commercialisation and cor-
ruption of bride wealth, and how the exorbitant payments associated with
it subjugate and exploit the women for whom it is paid. The chapter also
calls for the regulation of bride wealth by concerned African
governments.
Part II comprises six chapters that analyse scriptural and literary views
of lobola. Taking cognisance of the influence of scripture in Southern
Africa, the chapters analyse how the Bible and the Quran are deployed in
the practice of lobola. In Chap. 5, Lovemore Togarasei analyses the biblical
position on the practice of payment of bride price (lobola/roora). The
chapter traces the history and function of marriage gifts in ancient Israel,
analysing the extent to which the Bible can be used to justify lobola among
African Christians. Highlighting similarities between Jewish and Shona
practices of bride wealth, in Chap. 6, Francis Machingura and Liveson
Tatira interrogate Jewish and Shona perspectives of lobola in light of calls
for the abolishment of the practice in Zimbabwe. The chapter concludes
that though there might be misgivings in some societal quarters on the
issue of roora, at the present time it plays important social, cultural and
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

religious roles to both those who pay and those who receive it, which can-
not be wished away without dire social consequences. In Chap. 7, Eliot
Tofa uses data collected from the Ndebele, Shona, Swazi and Zulu com-
munities to examine ways in which these communities read biblical texts
within the background of lobola, marriage and divorce. Chapter 8, by
Edmore Dube, looks at masculinity in the context of lobola in Islam.
Considering the fact that nowadays the poor man whose wife dies before
significant lobola payment is often humiliated by making wife burial con-
tingent on full lobola payment, the chapter makes a comparative analysis of
the impact of lobola and the Muslim mahr on masculinity. Chapter 9 by
Beatrice Taringa explores the representation of the gendered nature of
lobola in ChiShona literature. Using Palmer’s gender-critical analysis the-
ory, the chapter explores four purposively sampled excerpts from ChiShona
literature texts. The chapter concludes that lobola is gendered to the extent
that the female characters embody femininity as entrapment rather than
femininity as self-invention. In Chap. 10, Ezra Chitando uses the herme-
neutic of suspicion to argue that prototypical characters in Shona lore,
such as “Marujata,” “Jojina” and “Chihera,” must be celebrated because
though they are perceived to be “bad news” to patriarchy, they must be
“good news” to gender equality.
There are nine chapters in Part III, making it the major part of the
book. Chapters in this part provide detailed discussion of the practice of
lobola in different communities from Southern Africa. In Chap. 11, Fidelis
Nkomazana focuses on bogadi (bride price) within the Botswana context.
The chapter critically examines bogadi as a critical factor in the marriage
contract. It also analyses and identifies some major historical and cultural
processes associated with bogadi, which variously affected gender relation-
ships among the Batswana. Noting the cultural changes among the
Ndebele of Zimbabwe, in Chap. 12, Sambulo Ndlovu interrogates the
tension associated with lobola. In Chap. 13, Silibaziso Mulea critiques the
feminist theory that views the lumalo (Vhavenḓa equivalent for lobola)
practice as oppressive to women. Using the theory of Afrocentricity and
Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the chapter argues that the Vhavenḓa
practice of lumalo should be understood from an African point of view
and not from the standpoint of the West. Chapter 14 by Mastone Mbewe
explores views of Mzimba people of northern Malawi on lobola marriage
practices. The chapter specifically presents Mzimba people’s views on
lobola in light of the accusation by some people that communities that
practice lobola sell their daughters in marriage. In Chap. 15, Madlome
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Title: Carlyle's laugh, and other surprises

Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Release date: May 19, 2022 [eBook #68129]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Houghton Mifflin Company,

1909

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Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CARLYLE'S

LAUGH, AND OTHER SURPRISES ***
 Thomas Wentworth Higginson
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 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Boston and New York

CARLYLE’S LAUGH
AND OTHER SURPRISES

CARLYLE’S LAUGH
AND OTHER SURPRISES

BY
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
MDCCCCIX

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published October 1909
 NOTE
The two papers in this volume which bear the titles “A Keats
Manuscript” and “A Shelley Manuscript” are reprinted by permission
from a work called “Book and Heart,” by Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, copyright, 1897, by Harper and Brothers, with whose
consent the essay entitled “One of Thackeray’s Women” also is
published. Leave has been obtained to reprint the papers on Brown,
Cooper, and Thoreau, from Carpenter’s “American Prose,”
copyrighted by the Macmillan Company, 1898. My thanks are also
due to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for permission to
reprint the papers on Scudder, Atkinson, and Cabot; to the
proprietors of “Putnam’s Magazine” for the paper entitled “Emerson’s
Foot-Note Person”; to the proprietors of the New York “Evening Post”
for the article on George Bancroft from “The Nation”; to the editor of
the “Harvard Graduates’ Magazine” for the paper on “Göttingen and
Harvard”; and to the editors of the “Outlook” for the papers on
Charles Eliot Norton, Julia Ward Howe, Edward Everett Hale, William
J. Rolfe, and “Old Newport Days.” Most of the remaining sketches
appeared originally in the “Atlantic Monthly.”
T. W. H.
 CONTENTS
I. CARLYLE’S LAUGH 1
II. A SHELLEY MANUSCRIPT 13
III. A KEATS MANUSCRIPT 21
IV. MASSASOIT, INDIAN CHIEF 31
V. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 45
VI. CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 55
VII. HENRY DAVID THOREAU 65
VIII. EMERSON’S “FOOT-NOTE PERSON,”—ALCOTT 75
IX. GEORGE BANCROFT 93
X. CHARLES ELIOT NORTON 119
XI. EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN 137
XII. EDWARD EVERETT HALE 157
XIII. A MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL, RUFUS SAXTON 173
XIV. ONE OF THACKERAY’S WOMEN 183
XV. JOHN BARTLETT 191
XVI. HORACE ELISHA SCUDDER 201
XVII. EDWARD ATKINSON 213
XVIII. JAMES ELLIOT CABOT 231
XIX. EMILY DICKINSON 247
XX. JULIA WARD HOWE 285
XXI. WILLIAM JAMES ROLFE 313
XXII. GÖTTINGEN AND HARVARD A CENTURY AGO 325
XXIII. OLD NEWPORT DAYS 349
XXIV. A HALF-CENTURY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 367
 I
CARLYLE’S LAUGH
 CARLYLE’S LAUGH
None of the many sketches of Carlyle that have been published
since his death have brought out quite distinctly enough the thing
which struck me more forcibly than all else, when in the actual
presence of the man; namely, the peculiar quality and expression of
his laugh. It need hardly be said that there is a great deal in a laugh.
One of the most telling pieces of oratory that ever reached my ears
was Victor Hugo’s vindication, at the Voltaire Centenary in Paris, of
that author’s smile. To be sure, Carlyle’s laugh was not like that
smile, but it was something as inseparable from his personality, and
as essential to the account, when making up one’s estimate of him. It
was as individually characteristic as his face or his dress, or his way
of talking or of writing. Indeed, it seemed indispensable for the
explanation of all of these. I found in looking back upon my first
interview with him, that all I had known of Carlyle through others, or
through his own books, for twenty-five years, had been utterly
defective,—had left out, in fact, the key to his whole nature,—
inasmuch as nobody had ever described to me his laugh.
It is impossible to follow the matter further without a little bit of
personal narration. On visiting England for the first time, in 1872, I
was offered a letter to Carlyle, and declined it. Like all of my own
generation, I had been under some personal obligations to him for
his early writings,—though in my case this debt was trifling
compared with that due to Emerson,—but his “Latter-Day
Pamphlets” and his reported utterances on American affairs had
taken away all special desire to meet him, besides the
ungraciousness said to mark his demeanor toward visitors from the
United States. Yet, when I was once fairly launched in that
fascinating world of London society, where the American sees, as
Willis used to say, whole shelves of his library walking about in coats
and gowns, this disinclination rapidly softened. And when Mr. Froude
kindly offered to take me with him for one of his afternoon calls on
Carlyle, and further proposed that I should join them in their habitual
walk through the parks, it was not in human nature—or at least in
American nature—to resist.
We accordingly went after lunch, one day in May, to Carlyle’s
modest house in Chelsea, and found him in his study, reading—by a
chance very appropriate for me—in Weiss’s “Life of Parker.” He
received us kindly, but at once began inveighing against the want of
arrangement in the book he was reading, the defective grouping of
the different parts, and the impossibility of finding anything in it, even
by aid of the index. He then went on to speak of Parker himself, and
of other Americans whom he had met. I do not recall the details of
the conversation, but to my surprise he did not say a single really
offensive or ungracious thing. If he did, it related less to my
countrymen than to his own, for I remember his saying some rather
stern things about Scotchmen. But that which saved these and all his
sharpest words from being actually offensive was this, that, after the
most vehement tirade, he would suddenly pause, throw his head
back, and give as genuine and kindly a laugh as I ever heard from a
human being. It was not the bitter laugh of the cynic, nor yet the big-
bodied laugh of the burly joker; least of all was it the thin and rasping
cackle of the dyspeptic satirist. It was a broad, honest, human laugh,
which, beginning in the brain, took into its action the whole heart and
diaphragm, and instantly changed the worn face into something
frank and even winning, giving to it an expression that would have
won the confidence of any child. Nor did it convey the impression of
an exceptional thing that had occurred for the first time that day, and
might never happen again. Rather, it produced the effect of
something habitual; of being the channel, well worn for years, by
which the overflow of a strong nature was discharged. It cleared the
air like thunder, and left the atmosphere sweet. It seemed to say to
himself, if not to us, “Do not let us take this too seriously; it is my way
of putting things. What refuge is there for a man who looks below the
surface in a world like this, except to laugh now and then?” The
laugh, in short, revealed the humorist; if I said the genial humorist,
wearing a mask of grimness, I should hardly go too far for the
impression it left. At any rate, it shifted the ground, and transferred
the whole matter to that realm of thought where men play with
things. The instant Carlyle laughed, he seemed to take the counsel
of his old friend Emerson, and to write upon the lintels of his
doorway, “Whim.”
Whether this interpretation be right or wrong, it is certain that the
effect of this new point of view upon one of his visitors was wholly
disarming. The bitter and unlovely vision vanished; my armed
neutrality went with it, and there I sat talking with Carlyle as
fearlessly as if he were an old friend. The talk soon fell on the most
dangerous of all ground, our Civil War, which was then near enough
to inspire curiosity; and he put questions showing that he had, after
all, considered the matter in a sane and reasonable way. He was
especially interested in the freed slaves and the colored troops; he
said but little, yet that was always to the point, and without one
ungenerous word. On the contrary, he showed more readiness to
comprehend the situation, as it existed after the war, than was to be
found in most Englishmen at that time. The need of giving the ballot
to the former slaves he readily admitted, when it was explained to
him; and he at once volunteered the remark that in a republic they
needed this, as the guarantee of their freedom. “You could do no
less,” he said, “for the men who had stood by you.” I could scarcely
convince my senses that this manly and reasonable critic was the
terrible Carlyle, the hater of “Cuffee” and “Quashee” and of all
republican government. If at times a trace of angry exaggeration
showed itself, the good, sunny laugh came in and cleared the air.
We walked beneath the lovely trees of Kensington Gardens, then
in the glory of an English May; and I had my first sight of the endless
procession of riders and equipages in Rotten Row. My two
companions received numerous greetings, and as I walked in safe
obscurity by their side, I could cast sly glances of keen enjoyment at
the odd combination visible in their looks. Froude’s fine face and
bearing became familiar afterwards to Americans, and he was
irreproachably dressed; while probably no salutation was ever
bestowed from an elegant passing carriage on an odder figure than
Carlyle. Tall, very thin, and slightly stooping; with unkempt, grizzly
whiskers pushed up by a high collar, and kept down by an ancient
felt hat; wearing an old faded frock coat, checked waistcoat, coarse
gray trousers, and russet shoes; holding a stout stick, with his hands
encased in very large gray woolen gloves,—this was Carlyle. I
noticed that, when we first left his house, his aspect attracted no
notice in the streets, being doubtless familiar in his own
neighborhood; but as we went farther and farther on, many eyes
were turned in his direction, and men sometimes stopped to gaze at
him. Little he noticed it, however, as he plodded along with his eyes
cast down or looking straight before him, while his lips poured forth
an endless stream of talk. Once and once only he was accosted, and
forced to answer; and I recall it with delight as showing how the
unerring instinct of childhood coincided with mine, and pronounced
him not a man to be feared.
We passed a spot where some nobleman’s grounds were being
appropriated for a public park; it was only lately that people had been
allowed to cross them, and all was in the rough, preparations for the
change having been begun. Part of the turf had been torn up for a
road-way, but there was a little emerald strip where three or four
ragged children, the oldest not over ten, were turning somersaults in
great delight. As we approached, they paused and looked shyly at
us, as if uncertain of their right on these premises; and I could see
the oldest, a sharp-eyed little London boy, reviewing us with one
keen glance, as if selecting him in whom confidence might best be
placed. Now I am myself a child-loving person; and I had seen with
pleasure Mr. Froude’s kindly ways with his own youthful household:
yet the little gamin dismissed us with a glance and fastened on
Carlyle. Pausing on one foot, as if ready to take to his heels on the
least discouragement, he called out the daring question, “I say,
mister, may we roll on this here grass?” The philosopher faced
round, leaning on his staff, and replied in a homelier Scotch accent
than I had yet heard him use, “Yes, my little fellow, r-r-roll at
discraytion!” Instantly the children resumed their antics, while one
little girl repeated meditatively, “He says we may roll at
discraytion!”—as if it were some new kind of ninepin-ball.
Six years later, I went with my friend Conway to call on Mr. Carlyle
once more, and found the kindly laugh still there, though changed,
like all else in him, by the advance of years and the solitude of
existence. It could not be said of him that he grew old happily, but he
did not grow old unkindly, I should say; it was painful to see him, but
it was because one pitied him, not by reason of resentment
suggested by anything on his part. He announced himself to be, and
he visibly was, a man left behind by time and waiting for death. He
seemed in a manner sunk within himself; but I remember well the
affectionate way in which he spoke of Emerson, who had just sent
him the address entitled “The Future of the Republic.” Carlyle
remarked, “I’ve just noo been reading it; the dear Emerson, he thinks
the whole warrld’s like himself; and if he can just get a million people
together and let them all vote, they’ll be sure to vote right and all will
go vara weel”; and then came in the brave laugh of old, but briefer
and less hearty by reason of years and sorrows.
One may well hesitate before obtruding upon the public any such
private impressions of an eminent man. They will always appear
either too personal or too trivial. But I have waited in vain to see
some justice done to the side of Carlyle here portrayed; and since it
has been very commonly asserted that the effect he produced on
strangers was that of a rude and offensive person, it seems almost a
duty to testify to the very different way in which one American visitor
saw him. An impression produced at two interviews, six years apart,
may be worth recording, especially if it proved strong enough to
outweigh all previous prejudice and antagonism.
In fine, I should be inclined to appeal from all Carlyle’s apparent
bitterness and injustice to the mere quality of his laugh, as giving
sufficient proof that the gift of humor underlay all else in him. All his
critics, I now think, treat him a little too seriously. No matter what his
labors or his purposes, the attitude of the humorist was always
behind. As I write, there lies before me a scrap from the original
manuscript of his “French Revolution,”—the page being written, after
the custom of English authors of half a century ago, on both sides of
the paper; and as I study it, every curl and twist of the handwriting,
every backstroke of the pen, every substitution of a more piquant
word for a plainer one, bespeaks the man of whim. Perhaps this
quality came by nature through a Scotch ancestry; perhaps it was
strengthened by the accidental course of his early reading. It may be
that it was Richter who moulded him, after all, rather than Goethe;
and we know that Richter was defined by Carlyle, in his very first
literary essay, as “a humorist and a philosopher,” putting the
humorist first. The German author’s favorite type of character—seen
to best advantage in his Siebenkäs of the “Blumen, Frucht, und
Dornenstücke”—came nearer to the actual Carlyle than most of the
grave portraitures yet executed. He, as is said of Siebenkäs,
disguised his heart beneath a grotesque mask, partly for greater
freedom, and partly because he preferred whimsically to exaggerate
human folly rather than to share it (dass er die menschliche Thorheit
mehr travestiere als nachahme). Both characters might be well
summed up in the brief sentence which follows: “A humorist in action
is but a satirical improvisatore” (Ein handelnder Humorist ist blos ein
satirischer Improvisatore). This last phrase, “a satirical
improvisatore,” seems to me better than any other to describe
Carlyle.
 II
A SHELLEY MANUSCRIPT
 A SHELLEY MANUSCRIPT
Were I to hear to-morrow that the main library of Harvard
University, with every one of its 496,200 volumes, had been reduced
to ashes, there is in my mind no question what book I should most
regret. It is that unique, battered, dingy little quarto volume of
Shelley’s manuscript poems, in his own handwriting and that of his
wife, first given by Miss Jane Clairmont (Shelley’s “Constantia”) to
Mr. Edward A. Silsbee, and then presented by him to the library. Not
only is it full of that aroma of fascination which belongs to the actual
handiwork of a master, but its numerous corrections and
interlineations make the reader feel that he is actually traveling in the
pathway of that delicate mind. Professor George E. Woodberry had
the use of it; he printed in the “Harvard University Calendar” a
facsimile of the “Ode to a Skylark” as given in the manuscript, and
has cited many of its various readings in his edition of Shelley’s
poems. But he has passed by a good many others; and some of
these need, I think, for the sake of all students of Shelley, to be put in
print, so that in case of the loss or destruction of the precious
volume, these fragments at least may be preserved.
There occur in this manuscript the following variations from
Professor Woodberry’s text of “The Sensitive Plant”—variations not
mentioned by him, for some reason or other, in his footnotes or
supplemental notes, and yet not canceled by Shelley:—

“Three days the flowers of the garden fair

Like stars when the moon is awakened, were.”

iii, 1-2.

[Moon is clearly morn in the Harvard MS.]

“And under the roots of the Sensitive Plant.”

iii, 100.
 [The prefatory And is not in the Harvard MS.]

“But the mandrakes and toadstools and docks and

darnels
Rose like the dead from their ruined charnels.”

iii, 112.

[The word brambles appears for mandrakes in the Harvard

MS.]

These three variations, all of which are interesting, are the only
ones I have noted as uncanceled in this particular poem, beyond
those recorded by Professor Woodberry. But there are many cases
where the manuscript shows, in Shelley’s own handwriting,
variations subsequently canceled by him; and these deserve study
by all students of the poetic art. His ear was so exquisite and his
sense of the balance of a phrase so remarkable, that it is always
interesting to see the path by which he came to the final utterance,
whatever that was. I have, therefore, copied a number of these
modified lines, giving, first, Professor Woodberry’s text, and then the
original form of language, as it appears in Shelley’s handwriting,
italicizing the words which vary, and giving the pages of Professor
Woodberry’s edition. The cancelation or change is sometimes made
in pen, sometimes in pencil; and it is possible that, in a few cases, it
may have been made by Mrs. Shelley.

“Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky.”

“Gazed through its tears on the tender sky.”

i, 36.

“The beams which dart from many a star

Of the flowers whose hues they bear afar.”

“The beams which dart from many a sphere

Of the starry flowers whose hues they bear.”

i, 81-82.

“The unseen clouds of the dew, which lie

Like fire in the flowers till the sun rides high,
Then wander like spirits among the spheres
Each cloud faint with the fragrance it bears.”

“The unseen clouds of the dew, which lay

Like fire in the flowers till dawning day,
Then walk like spirits among the spheres
Each one faint with the odor it bears.”

i, 86-89.

“Like windless clouds o’er a tender sky.”

“Like windless clouds in a tender sky.”

i, 98.

“Whose waves never mark, though they ever

impress.”

“Whose waves never wrinkle, though they impress.”

i, 106.

“Was as God is to the starry scheme,”

“Was as is God to the starry scheme.”

i, 4.

“As if some bright spirit for her sweet sake

Had deserted heaven while the stars were awake.”

“As some bright spirit for her sweet sake