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lodges ; but that the selection of the title in question might be the result of their promoters' previous connection with , or admiration for , the Arch degree , is not unlikely . Indeed in the case of the Maybole Royal Arch Lodge this seems to have

been the case ; for as a bar to its erection in 1797 in was urged by the old lodge of Maybole that the projectors of the new lodge had comported themselves " very superciliously" towards the brethren of No . 14— " they also give out that their

lodge is of a different order of Masonry from that of other lodges ; they say that they have higher mysteries in which they instruct their intrants , and that they have new and much more numerous ceremonies . " A further charge againt the Royal

Arch Lodge was that their pretended meetings for the study of the so-called " higher mysteries " were really held for the purpose of instilling into the minds of their intrants the principles of infidelity , that the Bible had in the lodge been

replaced by Payne ' s " Age of Reason , " and that their teachings were altogether of a revolutionary character , inimical alike to the interests of Church and State .

So averse were the Scotch-made Masons of Carrick to the introduction of any degrees purporting to be higher than those of Craft Masonry , that the foregoing charges were formally preferred against the Royal Arch Lodge in a communication

addressed by Macadam of Turnberry ( then Master ofthe old Maybole lodge ) to the Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire , who in the peculiar circumstances of the case , sought the advice of a leading member of the Scotch Bar . That gentleman being of

opinion that the case was not such as could be dealt with by the civil authority , the matter was brought before the Masonic court at Edinburgh . In entering upon an investigation of the case , the

committee of the Grand Lodge " considered the charges as of high importance , and which , if substantiated , will uot only subject the brethren complained upon to the highest censure , but will cause them to forfeit their chartered right to meet as a

lodge , because the Grand Lodge of Scotland recognises no degrees but those of Apprentice , Fellow Craft , aud Master Mason , justly denominated St . John ' s Masonry . " The defenders having been arraigned before the Grand Lodge ,

at a Quarterly Communication held in the Parliament House , Edinburgh , May 19 th , 1799 , a debate took place as to the relevancy of the libelwhereupon it was decided " that none of the

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charges brought against the members of the Royal Arch Lodge prior to the 6 th of February , 1727—the date of the letter from Grand Lodge authorising them to hold Masonic meetings—were competent to be the subject of investigation

before the Grand Lodge , because till that date they were in no shape under their jurisdiction . " Witnesses having been brought forward in support of the complaint , another discussion ensued upon "the propriety of examining them regarding

Royal Arch Masonry or Knights Templars , seeing that those degrees are not sanctioned or acknowledged by the Grand Lodge , who are total strangers to these orders of Masonry "; and Grand Lodge having " found that no questions anent the degrees mentioned should be put to the

witnesses , the case ivas proceeded with . The comr plainers , however , failed to substantiate their charges , and the defenders were honourably acquited—they having , before judgement was given , produced " certificates from the Lodges Royal

Arch , Ayr ; and St . David ' s , Tarbolton , testifying to their good conduct as Masons , from the ministers and elders of the parish of Maybole , testifying to their good conduct as men and Christians ; aud from the commander of the Maybole

Volunteers , testifying that eighteen of their number were members of this corps . " We have been thus particular in giving prominence to this interesting feature iu the history of the Maybole Royal Arch because of its being one of those Scotch lodges whose tiile suggested to Oliver the possession of a constitution different from that of those which

had not " lioyal Arch incorporated with their name . The practice of the Royal Arch and Templar degrees was subsequently resumed by the brethren of the Lodge Royal Arch , in their individual capacity , under a Black Charter from the

Early Grand Encampment of Ireland . And as strengthening their Masonic relationship with the Emerald Isle , the Royal Arch of Maybole homologated the act of one of its sons , who , in February , 1804 , "hadat the Boyne Aquaduct , county

of Meath , entered four members to No . 264 "; it also granted a dispensation to the brother in question "to enter such as he might consider worthy . " The connection formed toward the close of the

last century between lodges and the degrees of which we have been speaking cannot , as a rule , be traced in the minute books ofthe Crafty but in some such records that we have seen the nature