Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Utility
It is only the public situation which this gentleman holds which entitles me, or induces me to say a word about him. He is a fly in amber; nobody cares about the fly; the only question is, How the devil did it get there? Nor do I attack him for the love of the glory, but from the love of utility, as a burgomaster hunts a rat in a Dutch dyke, for fear it should flood a province.
—Sydney Smith