Include a specific number of posts with specific categories on a page

Hello!

I’m using the script shown in this thread (https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/68905) and it’s OK. But I need to limit the number of posts…

I tried to do this:
$artist1 = query_posts(‘cat=1’);
$albums = query_posts(‘cat=2’);
$numbertoshow = query_posts (‘showposts=10’);
$queried_posts = array_merge($artist1, $albums, $numbertoshow);

But it doesn’t work…
Anybody know how can I do this?

Thank you!