In these later days the competition is so keen that would-be champions have to become specialists, and we thus hear less than we used to of 'all round champions.'

Mitchell's performance was never eclipsed until M. J. Brooks, a freshman from Rugby, came up to Oxford. Brooks in his first year jumped 5 ft. 10 in. at the Inter-'Varsity sports, and a few days later eclipsed this by a performance of 5 ft. 11 in. at the championship meeting. He was a tall, cleanly built, and rather thin man, with a good deal of strength as well as spring, and his manner of jumping was very striking, although not very graceful when he got over great heights. He took very little run, and in fact almost walked up to the bar, springing straight over it with his legs tucked up high and well in front of him, and invariably looked, when his legs were once over, as if his body would fall crashing on to the bar; but he nearly always managed to jerk his body forward again and to alight upon his toes. When he did knock down the bar he did so with his elbows or body, being apparently able to get his feet over almost any height. The year after his first appearance Brooks was in no sort of form, and was beaten by M. G. Glazebrook, another Oxonian, who did 5 ft. 9 1/4 in. at the Inter-'Varsity gathering, and was credited with 5 ft. 11 in. at the championship meeting.

We can recollect, however, that Glazebrook's 5 ft. 11 in. was rather a doubtful record, as he knocked the bar pretty heavily, but without bringing it to the ground. In 1876 Brooks disposed of his own and Glazebrook's joint record by jumping 6 ft. at the University sports at Oxford. For so many years it had been considered an impossible feat to jump 6 ft. that the excitement at the performance was very great, and the Honorary Treasurer of the O.U.C.A., then as now an enthusiastic admirer of 'records,' threw his hat into the air, oblivious of the fact that the old Marston Ground was covered with puddles, in one of which the hat alighted. On this occasion the take-off was from cinders, but at the meeting at Lillie Bridge a fortnight later the competitors, who had a very fine warm day, took off from the grass, and Brooks cleared on this occasion 6 ft. 2 1/2 in. We have heard from 'Bob Rogers,' who was on the ground as official time-keeper and was standing close by, that Brooks' feet went two or three inches above the bar when he cleared this remarkable height. At the championship meeting three days later Brooks again cleared 6 feet, another magnificent performance, as he took off from very wet spongy grass.

This was his last performance in public.

The next few years produced one or two good jumpers, but Brooks' record still seemed quite unapproachable. In 1878 a Northerner, G. Tomlinson, who in face and figure seemed a smaller edition of F. T. Elborough, won the championship with 5 ft. 10 1/2 in., and we believe on other occasions cleared 6 feet. He was a very pretty jumper, but took his leap a bit sideways. Another fine performer was the Cantab, R. H. Macaulay, another all-round performer, who, when he became after some seasons of football a bit too heavy and stiff for jumping, developed into a fine quarter-mile runner. Macaulay when in his first year at Cambridge was able to clear nearly 6 feet, and in 1879 he won the championship with 5 ft. 9 1/2 in. He was a very strong, loosely built man, and his style of jumping was to take off a long way from the bar and go over with a great bound and with his head and shoulders well up, so that at the moment of the clearing the bar the body was almost perpendicular, not leaning back as was the case with Brooks.

One of the few jumpers who up to the present have rivalled the reputation of Brooks is the Irish athlete P. Davin, a member of a very well-known athletic family, his elder brother, M. Davin, having made a great reputation as a weight-putter, and another brother, T. Davin, having won several Irish championships at high and long jumping. In 1880 P. Davin is reported to have beaten Brooks' record by clearing 6 ft. 2 3/4 in. at his native place at Carrick-on-Suir, and in proof of the record we believe that the certificates of two local justices of the peace as to the correctness of the measurement were lodged with the Field. There is indeed not the least reason to doubt the bona fides of the performance, but it is perhaps natural that a good many Englishmen should have suspicions that Irish patriotism might manage to elongate a measurement by a quarter of an inch when the downfall of Saxon supremacy could be secured thereby. In 1881 Davin came over for the English championship and won with a leap of 6 ft. 0 1/2 in. His appearance was watched with great interest, and he certainly showed magnificent power on that day, winning the long jump as well with a leap of 22 ft. 11 in.

Davin was a tall strong man of quite 6 feet in height, and might almost be described as a young giant, being, although very well-shaped, a strong, heavy man. His style of leaping was quite different from that of Brooks, as he trotted up towards the posts and with one prodigious bound in the air went clean over the bar. In one of his leaps, when he was clearing about 5 ft. 9 in. height, we saw him take off six feet before the bar and alight six feet on the other side, and when over the bar his body was almost perpendicular. In fact he took a downright honest leap at the bar in much the same way as a man would leap over a hedge and ditch from a road. In 1887, however, those two giants, Brooks and Davin, were surpassed by a diminutive American, W. B. Page, who, though only about 5 ft. 6 in. in height, cleared 6 ft. 3} in. at Stourbridge.1

Of late years Ireland has certainly produced many fine jumpers, and there can be little doubt that it is an amusement for which the Celtic race has a natural aptitude. For the half dozen years preceding 1886, both the high and long jump championships have fallen more often to Irish and Scotch competitors than to native Englishmen.

1 At the championship meeting of 1887 Page tied with G. W. Rowdon of Devonshire. Rowdon is said to have jumped 6 ft. 5 3/8 in. at some volunteer regimental sports at Haytor camp in August 1890, but the record is a doubtful one. Rowdon afterwards exhibited his wonderful leaping powers at the music halls.