The accession of Elizabeth, after the gloomy reign of her sister, was welcomed by none more joyfully than by the citizens of London, who continued to commemorate the day with bonfires and general rejoicing long after the queen had been laid in her grave.(1475) When news was brought of her sister’s death Elizabeth was at Hatfield. Within a week she removed to London and took up her abode at the Charterhouse. The sheriffs went out to meet her as far as the boundary of the county of Middlesex, the limit of their jurisdiction, dressed in coats of velvet, with their chains about their necks and white rods in their hands. Having first kissed their rods, they handed them to the queen, who immediately returned them, and the sheriffs thereupon joined the gentlemen of the cavalcade and rode before her majesty until they met Sir Thomas Leigh,(1476) the mayor, and his brethren the aldermen. The sheriffs then fell back and took their places among the aldermen.(1477) From the Charterhouse she removed after a stay of a few days to the Tower, amid the blare of trumpets, the singing of children and the firing of ordnance. (M739) The Court of Common Council (21 Nov.) agreed to levy two fifteenths on the inhabitants of the city for the customary present to be given the new queen on her passing through the city to her coronation, which was to take place on the 15th January following, as well as for defraying the costs of pageants on the occasion.(1478) Committees were appointed to see that the several conduits, the Standard and Cross in Cheap, and other parts of the city were seemly trimmed and decked with pageants, fine paintings and rich cloth of Arras, silver and gold, as at the coronation of Queen Mary, and better still if it conveniently could be done.(1479) Among those appointed to devise pageants for the occasion and to act as masters of the ceremony was Richard Grafton, the printer.(1480) Eight commoners were appointed by the Court of Aldermen (17 Dec.) to attend upon the chief butler of England at the cupboard at the coronation banquet.(1481) (M740) A curious instance of a strike among painters is recorded at this time. The painters of the city, we are told, utterly refused to fresh paint and trim the great conduit in Cheap for the coronation for the sum of twenty marks. This being the case, the surveyors of the city were instructed to cause the same to be covered with cloth of Arras having escutcheons of the queen’s Arms finely made and set therein, and the wardens of the Painters’ Company were called upon to render assistance with advice and men for reasonable remuneration.(1482) (M741)