pregare

Assuring all and sundry that he would do his utmost to maintain a high standard of culinary excellence, the proprietor ended by begging his honourable clients that they would bestow their kind favours on the restaurant of the house -- _signora pregare i suoi respettabili clienti perche vogliano benignarsi il ristorante_; and therewith signed himself -- Coriolano Paparazzo.

By the Ionian Sea George Gissing 1880