Again, the figurative—that is to say, the only modern use of _influence_—is first quoted from his works, and we can watch him gradually taking the meaning of the word sphere through its historical developments of planetary ‘_sphere_’, high social rank, any sort of category. A certain curious intransitive use of the verb _take_, as when a doctor says “the vaccination _took_ very well,” can also be traced back to Shakespeare, and a few more of the innumerable new uses of words which appear to have begun from him are _sequence_ and _creed_, with purely secular meanings; _real_, in its ordinary modern sense of ‘actual’; _magic_, _magical_, and _charm_[43], used figuratively; _apology_ as the personal and verbal expression of compunction; _positive_ in its psychological sense; _function_, used biologically; _fashion_ and _fashionable_ with their modern meanings; and _action_, meaning a battle. The fact that the first examples of these new uses quoted in the _Oxford Dictionary_ are taken from Shakespeare cannot, of course, be taken as absolute proof that he introduced them. But there are so many of them, and the _Dictionary_ is so thorough, that there can be no doubt of his being the first in most cases and among the first in every case. Shakespeare’s influence on the personal relations between the sexes, as they have developed in subsequent periods of English history, is a matter for the literary and social historian; but it is interesting to reflect how the meanings of that group of Norman French words mentioned in the last chapter, and of others which were slowly drawn into their circle, must have expanded under the warm breath of his vivacious and human heroines. The ideal atmosphere of gracious tenderness which was the contribution to humanity of the Middle Ages was to some extent realized by the Elizabethans. The women towards whom it was directed became less and less mere ecclesiastical symbols, existing only in the imagination of the lover, and more and more creatures of real flesh and blood. Once again it is a case of a later age striving to live out what an earlier age—or its few best minds—have dreamed. Thus, the Blessed Virgin is partly supplanted in men’s hearts by the virgin Queen; the charming figure of Sidney—personified gentleness and chivalry—actually passes across the stage of history; the peculiarly English word _gentleman_ appears. And we can hardly help holding Shakespeare partly responsible for what is going forward when we find him writing “the devout religion of mine eye” and making Richard III implore Anne to “let the soul forth that adoreth thee”—where the words _religion_ and _adore_ are both applied to humanity for the first time, as far as we know, in English literature.