During the remainder of the session Pitt seldom took any part in parliamentary business, and never opposed the ministry on any question of importance. On August 12 parliament was prorogued after a session lasting nearly nine months, and the prime minister embraced the opportunity of making some slight reconstructions in the ministry. Pelham, who was removed from the home office, resigned his place in the cabinet, and was shortly afterwards consoled with the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster, an office which was not yet definitely recognised as political. Charles Philip Yorke, son of the chancellor who died in 1770 and half-brother of the third Earl of Hardwicke, resigned the office of secretary at war and succeeded to the home office on the 17th. It was also considered advisable to strengthen the ministry in the upper house, where Grenville's oratory gave the opposition a decided advantage in debating power, and Hawkesbury was accordingly summoned to the lords on November 16 in his father's barony of Hawkesbury. After this rearrangement the cabinet contained eight peers and three commoners, no illiberal allowance of commoners according to the ideas of the age. The recess was further marked by a violent war of pamphlets between the followers of Addington and Pitt, which began early in September, and which, although no politician of the first order took any direct part in it, did much to embitter the relations of their respective parties.[16] Not less irritating were the _jeux d'esprit_ with which Canning continued to assail the ministry in the newspaper press.[17] The most famous of these is the couplet:-- Pitt is to Addington As London is to Paddington. A more openly abusive poem, entitled "Good Intentions," described the prime minister as "Happy Britain's guardian gander". The following verses refer to the appointment of Addington's brother, John Hiley Addington, to be paymaster-general of the forces, and of his brother-in-law, Charles Bragge, afterwards succeeded by Tierney, to be treasurer of the navy:-- How blest, how firm the statesman stands (Him no low intrigue can move) Circled by faithful kindred bands And propped by fond fraternal love. When his speeches hobble vilely, What "Hear him's" burst from Brother Hiley; When his faltering periods lag, Hark to the cheers of Brother Bragge. Each a gentleman at large, Lodged and fed at public charge, Paying (with a grace to charm ye) This the Fleet, and that the Army.[18] [Pageheading: _THE KING'S ILLNESS._]