19 March 2002:
The Editor of The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine has declined to publish a letter by Bruce I. Miller and Helga J. Perry. Here is the letter in question, so SASS Magazine readers can draw their own conclusions as to why it was not considered suitable for publication:
 
To the Editor of The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine,

We read with interest the article on the De Belville song (SASS Magazine 2001 Autumn 53: 6), quoting from a satirical letter to the editor of the Musical World by “Simon Half” (Musical World 1883 July 14 61(28): 434-435).

Your readers may not have realised that the excerpts quoted do not fully represent the content of the Musical World piece. The impression left is that "Simon Half" was describing Barrington’s performance on the opening night of Iolanthe; however, the writer did not say that Barrington sang rather than recited De Belville. He was actually describing a hallucinatory “performance” in a drug-induced nightmare that is more accurately described as tongue-in-cheek wish-fulfilment than factual reportage.

It is interesting that "Simon Half" devoted all of his attention to the De Belville song, which was not sung, and completely overlooked another song cut after opening night, "Fold your flapping wings," which was sung by Richard Temple.

While “Simon Half” contributes nothing new to our knowledge about Barrington’s performance of De Belville, his humorous piece shows that the song’s deletion continued to generate interest in the Press. We have provided a full transcription of the text of the piece below [minus the illustration à la Swinburne].
 

Yours sincerely,
 

Bruce I. Miller
Helga J. Perry