As we all know from Tolkien, some British have hobbitian blood. Perhaps that's proved in this bit from "A Tour to North Wales, 1784," from John Byng's The Torrington Diaries:
...We found ourselves at a proper sort of inn -- the Unicorn, Bengworth; a very good, little inn -- and with infinite comfort tasted the [offerings of] a clean civil house....At this place, and at Shrewsbury, we indulg'd with fires, as repellers of damp and gloom; tho til yesterday we had never been incommoded by rain, and then for the first time [in our journey] wore our great coats....
