This was the happiest epoch of his life, but it did not last long. The accession of D. Maria I inaugurated an era of reaction against the spirit and reforms of Pombal, and religious succeeded to political intolerance. In June 1778 Nascimento was denounced to the Portuguese Inquisition on the charge of having given vent to heterodox opinions and read the works of modern philosophers who follow natural reason. The tribunal held a secret inquiry, and without giving him an opportunity of defence issued an order for his arrest, which was to take place early in the morning of the 14th of July. He had received a warning, and succeeded in escaping to the house of a French merchant, Verdier, where he lay hid for eleven days, at the end of which his friend the Marquis of Marialva put him on board a French ship which carried him to Havre.