breathing spell vs last gasp

breathing spell

noun
  • An opportunity to rest or give thought to a situation; a short respite. 

last gasp

noun
  • A last-gasp moment, attempt, etc. 

  • The last gasp or breath a person takes before death. 

  • The point of death, or the last period of one's life. 

How often have the words breathing spell and last gasp occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )