Nathaniel Cotton

Cotton, Nathaniel, M.D., born in 1707, and educated for the medical profession at Leyden. Giving his attention more especially to brain diseases, he first assisted a physician, who devoted his attention to the insane, at Dunstable; and they erected a large Asylum at St. Albans. In 1763 the poet Cowper became one of his patients, and, on his recovery, conceived a warm attachment for his medical friend. Dr. Cotton died at St Albans, Aug. 2, 1788. Several of his hymns appeared from 1760 onwards in Dr. Dodd's Christian's Magazine, some signed "Dr. Cotton, St. Albans," some “N.," and some without signature. His poetical works were published posthumously:— Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols., Lond., Dodsley, 1791; and Visions in Verse, &c, with Memoir, 1808. His hymns came into use through Collyer's Collection, 1812.

They are:—
1. Amid the various scenes of ill. Affliction Sanctified. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791.
2. Tell me, my soul, O tell me why. Sin the cause of fear. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791.
3. This is the day the Lord of Life. Sunday. From Various Pieces, &c, 1791.
4. While sorrow wrings my bleeding heart. Suffering. From his version of Ps. xiii., "Offended Majesty, how long ?" in the Christian's Magazine, Feb. 1761.
5. With fierce desire the hunted hart. Ps. 42.
Dr. Cotton's most widely known hymn is, “Affliction is a stormy deep," q. v. It is a port of No. 5.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)