This refers to the period of Shakespeare's life after leaving school and before his marriage.  It is not known for sure how he spent this part of his life, although there has been much speculation.  John Aubrey wrote in 1681 that William Shakespeare 'had been in his younger years a schoolmaster in the country'.  John Cottom who taught at Stratford school had his family home in Lancashire and some think that this master may have found him employment as a tutor for the family of a local landowner Alexander Houghton.  Houghton mentioned a 'William Shakeshafte' in his will.