I almost contemn a foe so insignificant-Not that he is deficient in bravery, or skill-But what is he?
"Anna St. Ives"
Thomas Holcroft
There is no denying the beauty of the ideal, but there was apparent also a disposition, in contemplating it, to contemn the slow processes of evolution by which Nature commonly attains her ends, and to impose at once, by convention, the methods that commended themselves to the sanguine.
"Lessons of the war with Spain and other articles"
Alfred T. Mahan
Granting, then, that you, her nearest and most responsible relative, do not contemn me for presumption, all else seems to me clear.
"Kenelm Chillingly, Book 8."
Edward Bulwer-Lytton