"I write good creature: wheresoe'er she is,
Her heart weights sadly."
Here, as in ii. 3, the verb 'write' makes no sense. The 2nd folio has 'I (ay) right,' which, from the punctuation, would seem to have been a mere makeshift; the ordinary reading is that of Malone, 'A right good creature,' which we may be very sure is not what the poet wrote. As in Hamlet (ii. 1) the 4to, 1604, has "a fetch of wit" for "a fetch of warrant" of the folio, my first impulse was to read I warrant—also that of the editors of the Globe Shakespeare; but I then fixed on "I wis," and so it stands in my Edition. I am now convinced that the reading of the 2nd folio, when properly pointed, is the true one. I point it thus: "Ay, right.—Good creature! wheresoe'er she is." The 'Ay, right,' expresses the widow's assent to the truth of her daughter's observation; she then proceeds to speak of Helena. To my great surprise and gratification, I found, after I had made this natural and certain correction, that I had been completely anticipated in it by Capell. How it does provoke one to think of the wilful blindness or obtuseness of editors! For nearly an entire century they have had the true reading before their eyes, and never could see it! Singer has "Ay, right; good creature" etc.; but the punctuation shows he did not understand the passage.
Sc. 6.
"Oh, for the love of laughter let him fetch off his drum."
"This counterfeit lump of ore will be melted."
'Ore' is Theobald's correction of ours in the folio.