Walden

advantages which it may not be good policy to divulge; it is a good
port and a good foundation. No Neva marshes to be filled; though you
must every where build on piles of your own driving. It is said that a
flood-tide, with a westerly wind, and ice in the Neva, would sweep St.
Petersburg from the face of the earth.



As this business was to be entered into without the usual capital, it
may not be easy to conjecture where those means, that will still be
indispensable to every such undertaking, were to be obtained. As for
Clothing, to come at once to the practical part of the question,
perhaps we are led oftener by the love of novelty, and a regard for the
opinions of men, in procuring it, than by a true utility. Let him who
has work to do recollect that the object of clothing is, first, to
retain the vital heat, and secondly, in this state of society, to cover
nakedness, and he may judge how much of any necessary or important work
may be accomplished without adding to his wardrobe. Kings and queens
who wear a suit but once, though made by some tailor or dressmaker to
their majesties, cannot know the comfort of wearing a suit that fits.
They are no better than wooden horses to hang the clean clothes on.