What kind of a person is the Squire?

George Eliot introduces Squire Cass to her readers in Ch.9
in a very unflattering manner:

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"a tall, stout man of sixty, with a face in
which the knit brow and rather hard glance seemed contradicted by the slack and feeble
mouth. His person showed marks of habitual neglect, his dress was
slovenly."

He is the
wealthiest man in Raveloe  and lives in the Red House. He is a very vain person,
conscious of and complacent about his superior status in that small village. Although a
man of high renown in Raveloe, Squire Cass is respected for his money and influence,
rather than for his character:

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The Squire had been used to parish homage all
his life, used to the presupposition that his family, his tankards, and everything that
was his, were the oldest and best; and as he never associated with any gentry higher
than himself, his opinion was not disturbed by comparison.
Ch.9.

He is the
representative of the 'idle rich' who do not have to work for a living but spend their
lives in idle luxury:

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"The squire was always in higher spirits than we
have seen him in at the breakfast table, and felt it quite pleasant to fulfill  the
hereditary duty of being noisily jovial and patronising: the large silver snuff box was
in active service and was offered without fail to all the neighbours from time to time
however often they might have declined the favour."
Ch.11

He is the father of
four sons, including Godfrey and Dunstan. He is intent on keeping his family legacy
intact and therefore is very demanding on his sons, who never seem to live up to his
expectations. He is not affectionate towards his sons and is often prone to fits of
anger towards them:

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"The Squire was purple with anger before his son
had done speaking, and found utterance difficult"
Ch.9.

Further during this
same conversation, Squire Cass speaks to Godfrey
while

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"frowning and casting an angry glance at his son"
Ch.9.

Such outbursts and
glowering betray the Squire's lack of self-control and easy loss of
composure.

For the most part, however, Squire Cass is not
one to be vigorously involved in much of anything. Aside from his ranting and raving at
his son Godfrey, he is rather inclined to simply spend his days in easy luxury. And
while he puts on a pretense of being somehow occupied, at least in his mind, Eliot
reveals,

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"The Squire's life was
quite as idle as his sons"
Ch.9.