Charles John Francis, president of the parliament of Paris, was born at Paris in 1685. He early discovered a sprightly, benevolent disposition; and his pe- penetration and aptness were soon distinguished by the success of his studies. On quitting college, Hénault entered the Oratory, where he soon attached himself to the study of eloquence; and on the death of the Abbé René, reformer of La Trappe, he undertook to pronounce his panegyric; but as this did not meet the approbation of Massillon, he quitted the Oratory after two years; and his father bought for him, of Mareschal Villeroi, the office of lieutenant des chasses, and the government of Corbeil. In 1707, he gained the prize of eloquence at the French academy; and next year he carried off another at the Académie des Jeux Floraux. In 1713 he brought out a tragedy on the stage, under the disguised name of Fuselier. As he was known to the public only by some lighter pieces, Cornelia the Vestal met with little success; and he therefore locked it up without printing. But in his old age his passion for these subjects revived; and Horace Walpole happening to be at Paris in 1768, where he formed a friendship with Hénault, obtained this piece, and had it printed at his own press. In 1751 M. Hénault, under a borrowed name, brought out a second tragedy, entitled Marius, which was well received and printed. He had been admitted as counsellor in parliament in 1706, with a dispensation on account of his age; and in 1710 he was appointed president of the first chamber of inquests. These important places, which he determined to fill in a becoming manner, engaged him in the most solid studies. He spent several years in making himself master of the Roman law, and the ordinances of the French kings, with their customs and public law. On the death of the Cardinal Dubois, in 1732, he succeeded in his place at the French academy. Cardinal Fleury recommended him to succeed himself as director; and he pronounced the éloge of M. de Malezieux.

M. Hénault's favourite study was history, not a bare collection of dates, but a knowledge of the laws and manners of nations; and to obtain this he drew instruction from private conversations, a method he so strongly recommends in his preface. After having thus discussed the most important points of public law, he undertook to collect and publish the result of his inquiries; and he is deservedly accounted the first framer of chronological abridgments, in which, without stopping at detached facts, he attends only to those forming a chain of events which perfect or alter the government and character of a nation, and traces only the springs which exalt or humble a nation, extending or contracting the space it occupies in the world. The first edition of his work, the result of forty years' reading, appeared in the year 1744, under the auspices of the Chancellor d'Aguiseau, and with the modest title of Essay. The success it met with surprised him. He made continual improvements in it, and it has gone through many editions, and been translated into Italian, English, and German.

In 1755, he was chosen an honorary member of the Academy of Belles Lettres, being then a member of the academies of Nancy, Berlin, and Stockholm. He composed three comedies, namely, La Petite Maison, Le Jalonx de Lui-même, and La Réveil d'Epiménide. The subject of the last was the Cretan philosopher, who is pretended to have slept twenty-seven years. He is introduced fancying that he had slept but one night, and astonished at the change in all around him; he mistakes his mistress for his mother; but discovering his mistake, offers to marry her, which she refuses, though he still continues to love her. The queen was particularly pleased with this piece, and ordered the president to restore the philosopher's mistress to her former youth; he accordingly introduced Hebe, and this episode produced an agreeable entertainment.

A delicate constitution made him liable to much illness, which, however, did not interrupt the serenity of his mind. One morning, after a quiet night, he felt an oppression, which the faculty pronounced a suffocating cough. He then received the sacraments. It was believed the next night Hendecagon would be his last; but by noon the following day he was out of danger. "Now I know what death is," said he; "it will not be new to me any more." He never forgot it during the remaining seven years of his life, which, like all the rest, were gentle and calm. He died on the 24th of November 1770, in his eighty-fifth year. The principal works of President Hénault are, 1. Nouvelle Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire de la France, 1768, in 4to; 2. Histoire Critique de l'établissement des Français, dans les Gaules, ouvrage inédit du Président Hénault, imprimé sur le Manuscrit original écrit de sa Main, Paris, 1801, in two vols. 8vo; 3. Lettre du Président Hénault sur la Régale, adressée à l'Abbé Velly, originally published in the Mercure de France; 4. Lettres du Président Hénault à Marmontel, au sujet d'un Extrait de l'Abrégé de l'Histoire de De Thou, in the collection of Fontanius; 5. Mémoire sur les Abrégés Chronologiques, Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript.; 6. Discours qui remportent le prix d'éloquence de l'Académie Française, 1707, par Hénault, Conseiller au Parlement, Paris, 1707, in 4to; 7. Pièces de Théâtre, en Vers et en Prose, a collection which contains Cornélie Vestale, François II., the Petite Maison, the Jalonx de Lui-même, the Réveil d'Epiménide, and the Temple des Chimères.