Note 21 — The First Book.
Reading edition
The Angel of Death, say the Rabbis, holdeth his sword in his hand at the bed’s head, having on the end thereof three drops of gall, the sick man spying this deadly Angel, openeth his mouth with fear and then those drops fall in, of which one killeth him, the second maketh him pale, the third rotteth and putrifieth.
Purchas.
Possibly the expression to taste the bitterness of death, may refer to this.