[...] son of Sir Henry Beling, Knight, and received the early part of his education at a grammar-school in the city of Dublin, but afterwards was put under the tuition of some priests of the popish persuasion, who sedulously cultivated his natural talents, and taught him to write Latin in a fluent and elegant style. Thus grounded in the polite parts of literature, his father transplanted him to Lincoln’s inn, where he pursued his studies for several years, and returned home a “very accomplished gentleman;” but it does not appear that he ever made the law a profession, His natural inclination being warlike, he early engaged in the rebellion of 1641; and, although he had not attained his twenty-ninth year, was then an officer of considerable rank, as, in the February of the same year, he appeared at the head of a strong body of the Irish before Lismore, and summoned the castle to surrender; but the Lord Broghill, who commanded it, having a body of a hundred new raised forces, and another party coming to his relief, Beling thought it prudent to retire, and quitted the siege.

He afterwards became a leading member in the supreme council of the confederated Roman catholics at Kilkenny; to which he was principal secretary, and was sent embassador to the pope and other Italian princes, in 1645, to beg assistance for the support of their cause. He, unluckily, brought back with him a fatal present in the person of the nuncio, John Baptist Rinencini [sic for Rinuccini], Archbishop and Prince of Fermo, who was the occasion of reviving {77} the distinctions between the old Irish of blood and the old English of Irish birth, which divided that party into factions, prevented all peace with the Marquis of Ormond, and finally ruined the country he was sent to save. When Mr. Beling had fathomed the mischievous schemes of the nuncio and his party, and perceived that they had other views than merely to obtain toleration for the free exercise of their religion, nobody was more zealous than he in opposing their measures, in promoting the peace then in agitation, and submitting to the king’s authority, which he did with so much sincerity, that) he became very acceptable to the Marquis of Ormond, who entrusted him with many negociations both before and after the Restoration, all of which he executed with great fidelity. [...]

He returned home upon the Restoration, and was repossessed of his estate by the favour and interest of the Duke of Ormond. He died in Dublin, in September 1677; and was buried in the church-yard of Malahidert, about five miles from that city, where there is a tomb erected to his memory, but without any inscription that is apparent or legible. [...]