226. The subjunctive is often found in indirect questions, the answer being regarded as doubtful.
Ask the great man if there be none greater.—Emerson
What the best arrangement were, none of us could say.—Carlyle.
Whether it were morning or whether it were afternoon, in her confusion she had not distinctly known.—De Quincey.
VI. Expressing a Wish.
227. After a verb of wishing, the subjunctive is regularly used in the dependent clause.
The transmigiation of souls is no fable. I would it were! —Emerson.
Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art!—Keats.
I've wished that little isle had wings,
And we, within its fairy bowers,
Were wafted off to seas unknown.
—Moore.