The most prominent single genre among the texts of 1611 is undoubtedly the sermon. More sermons were printed, and preached around the country, than any other mode of written or enacted work. Sermons often shared the sense of the moment also captured in royal proclamations, satirical pamphlets, witty plays and the ever-popular almanacs. In 1611, the early modern sermon was an immensely flexible genre and at its best rivalled poetry and theatrical performance for rhetorical skill and dramatic impact. The ‘hard places’ of scripture were ‘made plaine’ to the ‘understanding’ by the brilliantly learned exegesis and linguistic knowledge of a preacher such as Lancelot Andrewes. The fact that preaching was even considered to play a vital role in the education and social order of the kingdom, suggests the lively presence and considerable status of sermons in early modern English textual culture.