Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/453

* GYLLEMBOURG-EHRENSVARD. 403 GYMNASIA. tluee began a busy literary career with The Polo- uiua Family (1825). Afterwards she wrote steailily Uiout;b anoiiyinously till her death. Aiiiniii; her better novels are Star and l-'ar{ 1841 ) and Tiro liriii iiitiinis (184.5). GYLLENBORG, yi.il'ltnbor-y', Kakl, Count (lU7t)-lT4G). A Swedish statesman and author. He was born at .Stoekhohn. and after serving in the Polish ar was sent to ]>ondon as secretary of legation. In 1715 he was made ilinister Plenipotentiary, and two years later was im- prisoned for five months because of his participa- tion in the plot to reinstate the House of Stuart. In 17:!3 lie was appointed Councilor of State, and in 1738 Prime Minister. While in this ollice he founded the llailpurti or Hattar CHat' Party), which instigated the disastrous war with Russia (1741-43), resulting in the loss of the Province of ^'iborg. He was successively chancellor of the universities of Lund (1728) aiul Upsala (1739), was a patron of letters and art. and wrcjte several poems and the tirst Swedish comedy. Drn svcnska SpratthoKei) (1740). His lycttcrs. . . Uclaliiuj io a Design to Raise a l'c1)eflion on His Majesty's Dominions, to he Sup/ioiird by a Force from Sweden, were published in French and English (1717). GYMKHANA, gim-kii'na (probably a corrup- tion of Pers. qund-khfinah. ball-house, influenced by popular association with i/ym-nasitini : also e.x- plained as being from Eng. yume + Pers. Ichanah, house). A generic term, originating in India, and signifying an outdoor meeting for recreational pur- poses. Ordinarily, gyniklianas are of two kinds: one, a race meeting on a small scale, in which any soi-t of horse takes jiart in order to make u]) a 'card.' and in which the races are generally for catch-weights. The second type of gymkhana is a variety of what was formerly called the 'pagfir ( 'foolish" or 'amusing') gymkhana, in which, besides the usual horse and pony races, other com- petitions for men and women, mounted and dis- mounted, are introduced: also tent-pegging and tilting, the foniier for men, and the latter for women. Every cantonment in India, no matter how remote, or how large or small, has its period- ical gj'mkhana. The 'card' or programme is ar- ranged so as to include all classes of cantonment society, and consists of Hat and obstacle racing, jumping, blindfold races, egg and spoon races, sack races, etc.. for the rank and tile of the local garrison. Among the events set apart for the natives none is more important than the race with an earthenware ehatti full of water, carried on the head, or the wheelbarrow races. For the oftieers, military and civil, are such events as 'tent-pegging' and 'tilting' in couples, in which the man rides at the jieg and the woman tilts at a ring: 'threadingthe-needle' race; 'Aunt Sally' race, performed by two men and two women, riding from the starting-iioint to a fixed place, where the men dismount their partners and hold their horses, while the women throw stones at four empty bottles. The moment the bottles are broken the women are remounted and the part- ners race back to the post. A favorite competition is the 'wand' or 'maize' event, in which mount- ed competitors canter in and out between rows of posts (ir wands driven into the ground, and placed at convenient distances apart from one another in two parallel lines. The competitors must 'make the ride' without touching a post. A menagerie race usually winds u)) the ineeting, and, owing to the many varieties of animals common to the country, an extremely varied assortment of com- petitors is always possible. In the hill stations the concluding feature is generally a 'jinrickshaw' (eollo(f(iially 'rickshaw) race, in which these light conveyances., drawn by coolies and driven liy Kuropeans, race with each other. A 'rickshaw may be described as an enlarged perambulator mounted on two wheels and litted with a shaft. It is drawn by two natives in the shaft, while two push behind. Although the gymkhana has become po]iular in Kngland within recent years, and has also been introduced into America, it has not the same reason for existence, or value as a sport. In India, owing to the nature of the climate, and the few hours of comjiarative cool- ness, together with the impossibility of following the ordinary sports of the West, considerable ingenuity has to Ije exercised to invent games which shall afford harmless amusement, and at the same time be within the scope of the usually limited resources of the average eanlonmcnt. GYMNASIA ( gini-nii'zi-a ) AND REAL- GYMNASIA, ra-til'gim-n;i'zi-a (Lat. noni. pl., fri.in (ik. yviJ.vdc, yymnoi, naked). The classical higher or secondary schools of Germany, graduation from which, until recently, necessarily preceded the university course and all professional careers. The Gym- nasia arose in Germany out of the humanistic movement during the sixteenth century. The ex- isting schools were monastic and cathedral under the control of the Church, and guild schools con- trolled by the guilds or municipalities, but yet taught and dominated by the clergj'. Such schools were devoted almost exclusively to the study of Latin, organized into tlw traditional curriculum, consisting of the trivium (q.v.) grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, and the qua- drivium (q.v.) arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music. The study of the quadrivium was of a most suiwrticial character, while that of the trivium was formal, with no appreciation of the spirit of the Latin literature and no devotion to classical ideas. The humanistic movement reached the German States during the last quar- ter of the fifteenth century, and soon modified not only the culture of the universities, but also the work of the secondary schools. Probably the first schools to respond to the new influences were those of Nuremberg, which were modified in 1485 and again in 1400. It was not till 1521. however, that this movement was complete, and instruction in Greek and Hebrew added, thus constituting a true humanistic school. Meanwhile the Prot- estant Reformation had begun, and for the time being coincided in its educational aspects with the earlier Renaissance movement. In addition to instruction in classical Latin and Greek, the Reformation influence favored the consolidation of existing schools into stronger centraliz^ed ones, or even into complete systems extending over an entire State, and also the placing of these under secular control. The first Protestant school of the humanistic type was that of Magdeburg, established in 1524. About the same time Mclanchthon formulated his 'school plan' providing for both (ireck and He- brew, at least for the favored few. and this plan became the basis of most of the Protestant schools of Germany. The first general system of schools