The Vigil of Arms details

“The most peculiar condition required for entry into knighthood was the “vigil of arms,” which consisted in keeping a long silent watch in some gloomy spot—a haunted one preferred—over the arms he was about to assume. The illustration representing this subject is without doubt one of the best of the kind extant, and even in the present age of the gold-cure is suggestive of a night-errant of today.” (p. 102)