Serving in the Italian Division in France

In November1803 Foscolo requested to resume active military service: “It is time for a young 25-year-old to abandon literary idling” (“E’ tempo che un giovane di venticinque anni abbandoni l’ozio letterario”, Ep. I, p. 191) he wrote to Vice-Presidente Francesco Melzi d’Eril on November 25. At the time Napoleon was gathering an army at the English Channel for an expedition against Britain and Italy was taking part with its own division.

Foscolo's request met political hurdles and was only satisfied a number of months later; with the rank of infantry captain the writer left in June 1804 for Valenciennes in Flanders, where the Italian Division led by General Domenico Pino was stationed. As commander of deposits and battalion chief, Foscolo carried out a number of administrative assignments between Valenciennes, Boulogne sur Mer and Calais and led a monotonous life, frequenting the families of French officials and some English families who had taken refuge in France. He had a relationship with an English woman, Sophia Hamilton, who would give birth to his daughter Floriana, who lived with him in his final years in London, although there is no proof of what turned out to be the writer's only paternity. The most significant literary commitment of this period was his translation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey, which was not published until 1813 in Pisa.

After the defeat the French suffered at Trafalgar, the planned invasion of Britain went up in smoke; in January 1806 Foscolo made a request to return to Italy to visit his family and obtained leave of four months; he was in Italy again in March after having passed through Paris where he met Alessandro Manzoni.