In a sermon preached by him before Edward in 1552 Ridley spoke much of the duties and responsibilities of those in high places towards the weaker classes. After the sermon we are told that the king sent for the Bishop and asked him what were the measures that he wished undertaken for the help of the London poor. Ridley asked leave to confer with the Lord Mayor and citizens of London, and, by them in the same year, a petition was presented to the Privy Council, showing the manner in which they hoped to proceed. This petition stated that amongst the poor of the City the citizens espied three sorts; the "succourless poor child," the "sick and impotent," and the "sturdy vagabond." Christ's Hospital was now ready for the first, and some provision had been made for the second. With regard to the third class, that of sturdy vagabonds or idle persons, they considered "that the greatest number of beggars, fallen into misery by lewd and evil service, by wars, by sickness or other adverse fortune, have so utterly lost their credit, that though they would show themselves willing to labour, yet are they so suspected and feared of all men, that few or none dare or will receive them to work: wherefore we saw that there could be no means to amend this miserable sort, but by making some general provision of work, wherewith the willing poor may be exercised; and whereby the froward, strong and sturdy vagabond may be compelled to live profitably to the Commonwealth[65]." The poor to whom the citizens here refer are beggars; the poor householders who remained at home are not considered. Moreover in describing the sturdy vagabonds the word beggars is used, thus showing that it was the mendicant class of whom the citizens were thinking, and that they so far had little conception of distinguishing between the beggars and other poor. The citizens go on to say, that the classes of sturdy beggars they have in their mind are "the child unapt to learning," "the sore and sick when they be cured," and "such prisoners as are quit at the sessions." The general provision of work was to be furnished by a hospital, and it is carefully stated that the occupations there were to be "profitable to all the King's Majesty's subjects and hurtful to none." It is interesting to notice how it is proposed to get over the difficulty of pauper-made goods so far as the merchants were concerned. Certain citizens in the trade were to give out the raw material to the unemployed in the hospital. When they were wrought up, they were to receive back the finished goods and pay the hospital for their labour, while the stock of raw material was to be renewed. The manufactured goods would thus be put upon the market by the merchants with the rest of their stock and not in competition with them. They propose to exercise such trades as the making of caps and of feather-bed ticks and the drawing of wire. The "weaker sort" were to be employed in carding,