grammar - What kind of construct is 'would that that were all'?


There is a place in Bram Stoker’s Dracula where I can’t quite parse the grammar:



8 May. — I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too diffuse. But now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had never come. It may be that this strange night existence is telling on me, but would that that were all!



I understand the meaning of the text in bold (it’s equivalent to if only that was all!), but I don’t understand the grammar being used. What kind of construct is this?



Answer



I would here is an archaic way of saying I wish.


See the other answers for a fuller picture


The author clearly does not want to repeat the I wish



I wish I were ....., but I also wish that that were all!



I read



I may just be affected by the strangeness of this night, but wish that that was the only reason I feel uneasy



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