Before being more noble? (7)
I believe the answer is:
earlier
'before' is the definition.
('earlier' can be a synonym of 'before')
'more noble?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'noble?' could be 'earl' (earl is a kind of noble) and 'earl' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'being' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for earlier that I've seen before include "of a bygone age?" , "Formerly" , "Beforehand" , "in the past" , "Rare lie (anag)" .)