In 1789 he produced a plea for religious toleration in the form of a five-act tragedy in verse, Jean Calas.
In his next work, the injustice of the disgrace cast on a family by the crime of one of its members formed the theme of Les Dangers de l'opinion (1790).
This energetic protest against mob rule, with its scarcely veiled characterizations of Robespierre as Nomophage and of Marat as Duricrne, was an act of the highest courage, for the play was produced at the Théâtre Français (temporarily Théâtre de la Nation) only nineteen days before the execution of Louis XVI.
In 1813 he replaced Delille in the Paris chair of literary history and French poetry; he was admitted to the Académie française in 1817.
Laya produced in 1797 Les Deux Stuarts, and in 1799 Falkland, the title-role of which provided Talma with one of his finest opportunities.